One is the loneliest number (Valanthia: Pre-Unveiling & GF'd)

[Amaranth]

(Continued from here).

It was with a rather eerie suddenness that Valanthia felt utterly and completely alone. Atl and the others were no longer nearby. Even her beloved Umbrosus was no longer present. She could still feel him. He was not dead. But by some odd act, she could no longer communicate with him. Anytime she tried to reach out mentally to her Virkyn companion, she would feel something akin to a wall blocking her way, shielding her from any further help Umbrosus could have offered to the princess in her daring foray into the Veil. She was alone, alone in the fog, with nothing but the sapphire and silver shadows to guide and confuse her and the nervous horse prancing beneath her lithe form.

Any words she might have voiced, any cries for help or inquisitive calls that might have passed from her lips would be lost in the Veil, swallowed whole by the swirling streamers of mist and dappled sunlight.

And then, as if the gods themselves were smirking down upon the half-Vyssie... it began to rain. The droplets skittered down the ancient trunks of the forest, spraying the young woman with merciless glee. The temperature of the rain varied, ranging from lukewarm to icy cold, and all with only a manner of seconds between the two extremes. It was as though nature herself had suddenly gone insane, forgetting what was supposed to be norm in regards to the seasons.

It was nothing more than a light rain, soft and teasing as it misted down upon the young woman, but it was enough to slowly soak and definitely irritate. Had Telath gone mad?

[Valanthia L'Evienne]

And just like that, all of Val's carefulness proved to be useless.

She reined the horse in and glanced nervously around, but there was no trace of Atl or his wife. Neither was there any sign of Umbrosus, and while it wasn't necessarily disturbing that she couldn't see him, the fact that she couldn't communicate with him was distressing indeed. Since their bonding, they had only been mentally separated once before, at Jaedah's Mirror, and the silence in Val's head was deafening.

"Nrm..." She could already tell that shouting into the teeth of whatever magic was afoot here wasn't going to do any good. "So I guess it's just you and me then," she whispered to her unsettled mount. Again, Val rather regretted taking the horse at all -- she was not an experienced rider, and she was very worried that the animal would panic.

And then the rain...the inexplicable, temperature-changing rain. Val glanced upward at the overhanging branches. Was this some kind of sign of unhappiness at her presence from the forest, or something more general? There was no way to know, and no one to ask.

She glanced down at the ring on her hand. Theoretically, if she were to touch it, it would take her and Umbrosus back to Coldlight -- but, given that nothing else arcanic seemed to work here, would it even be effective? And would it be able to find her bondmate, or leave him here to fend for himself? The ring was her one fool-proof escape plan, but she now had no idea whether it would work, and the risks of leaving Umbrosus the entire Realm away were too great to chance trying it.

"Maybe we can wait this out somewhere." She was talking as much to herself as to her horse. The girl turned her head, looking to see if there was anyplace in this disturbingly same-looking forest that might offer a bit of shelter from the rain. She no longer knew what direction Silrosia lay in, or the edge of the Veil, or her companions, and stopping to formulate a plan seemed like the best idea currently open to her.

[Amaranth]

A particularly chilling splash of raindrops gusted into the princess's face as she began her search for shelter -- a quest she would find to be fairly easy within the ancient forest. Great trees of such girth and height to dwarf even the mightiest of manmade buildings stretched heavenwards on all sides of the young woman, standing sentinel over the elf lands like watchful guardians of old. She felt their many eyes upon her, waiting, weighing, forever silent but forever present. She was far from alone in the Veil, but that would hardly be comforting, given the nature of that which stalked the consul.

Slow at first, the rains soon picked up, continuing in their odd and rather temperamental nature in regards to temperature as they did so until, instead of a light, caressing drizzle, they were crashing earthwards in an outright downpour. Snorting in fright, Valanthia's mount continued to tramp through the sodden foliage, its hooves sinking into the soft turf with alarming ease as the pair of rider and equine passed beneath the low-hanging boughs of the trees. The dampened leaves dripped merrily down upon the young woman, a particularly fat and rather cold droplet plopping onto the very back of her neck, as the slick branches tugged at her clothing, seemingly determined to undress her with each pass she made.

There were plenty of opportunities for some meager form of shelter provided by those same branches, though no immediate solution for not being soaked to her very core made itself apparent to the half-Vyssie. There were no overhangings she could crawl under, no tight spaces she could wriggle into... just trees. Lots and lots of trees. And rain, one couldn't forget the rain... but it did seem a little impossible to avoid, even more so to forget.

As Valanthia pierced deeper into the forest, slogging steadily through the growing mud and rising water level, she would become more and more aware of the feeling that someone or something was following her, haunting her steps more gracefully than any shadow... but no matter which way she turned, all she was met with was blinding sheets of rain. Nothing but rain.

[Valanthia L'Evienne]

The bewildering forest seemed to loop in on itself as Val looked in vain for a place to stop. A normal forest would have some rocks, or a fallen log, or something that she could use as a shelter in a pinch, but here, there seemed to be nothing but a maddening sameness. Well, that and a feeling of being watched...

The rain was tremendous now, and Val reined in her mount. There was no point in trying to ride further, not when she didn't know where she was going. She quickly dismounted next to one of the ubiquitous trees. She was still uncertain of her ability to control the horse, and to stay on it during this surreal storm was simply to court disaster.

The girl had long since abandoned any hope of avoiding being completely soaked by the variable-temperature rainfall. She simply placed her back against the trunk of the randomly-selected tree and gritted her teeth, waiting to see how long this would last. She did not attempt to tie the horse down; fiddling with a rope would probably be impossible in this weather anyway.

As she stood there, she glanced nervously around. She saw nothing, no matter which way she looked, but the unsettling feeling of being tracked remained. A knot formed in the pit of her stomach, and she moved a sopping wet piece of hair off of her forehead. Almost automatically, the Princess drew a stiletto from the sheath strapped to her left arm. It was not a particularly good weapon for a confrontation with something you couldn't see, but Val had precious few other choices in armaments.

"Serale?" she called out, trying to raise her voice above the howl of the storm. "Is somebody there?" It was a neutral question -- if there was something there, it wasn't necessarily trying to hurt her, although given the loss of her friends, the magical rain, and her inability to pinpoint her shadower, she would be a fool not to be at least somewhat on the defensive. And whatever else she might be, Valanthia was nobody's fool...

She did not expect an answer to her question, but scanned the area anyway, just to see if she could figure out what was going on. She also kept an eye on the horse -- she expected it to look for shelter, but if it somehow decided to bolt, she wasn't about to be run over in the process.

[Seregon]

:}-OOC-{:Permission has been granted by the Lady Amaranth to continue with this thread. Enjoy!

"Serale?" Valanthia called out, trying to raise her whisper-soft voice above the howl of the storm. "Is somebody there?" she had innocently questioned, perhaps not even really wanting an honest answer. However, no verbal reply came; instead an ominous and powerful rumbling began to assault the girl's ears. Was it thunder? No, it was far too continuous in its droning to be that. Was it a quake? Well, no, although the ground below the girl's feet had begun to vibrate just a bit, sending ripples across the puddles that were swiftly forming all around her. And then, for several heartbeats, the noise stopped. All of the noises stopped. The splatter of the rain, the howling of the wind, and even the menacing rumbling were all gone, and poor Valanthia instantly feared the worst. Clearly she had spontaneously gone deaf! Robbed of her sense of hearing in a flash! What the feth was happening? This wasn't possible! Why couldn't she hear? But then, before panic truly had time to set in, the forest around her literally exploded and she could clearly make out every last detail, both with her eyes and her ears! Branches the size of the girl's leg were suddenly being snapped as if they were mere twigs, splintering and cracking like bones held within a giant's hand. Sharp pieces of slate and massive chunks of rock were sent flying through the air, clattering and smashing into the sturdy trunks of nearby trees. Large mounds of saturated soil were also suddenly taking flight, splashing down around her, upon the flooded forest floor, making sickening, soggy noises upon impact. And then the rumbling returned and Valanthia understood precisely what was unfolding right before her very eyes. She was suddenly standing in the middle of a stampede – a stampede of centaurs!

[Valanthia L'Evienne]

Sounds, and then no sound, and then a veritable uproar. It was enough to drive one half-mad. But as soon as she had her hearing back and realized what was going on -- incredible as it seemed -- Val took immediate action to try and survive it.

The horse, she assumed, was long gone; the best she could do would be to save herself. The tree she was pressed up against was a relatively large one, and Val flattened her body to the trunk as much as possible. It would be difficult, she thought, for even a stampeding centaur to hit her without running smack into the tree. It also might offer her some protection from the flying rocks, although she still kept on the alert for any projectiles heading her way.

Val had never seen one centaur, let alone a whole...herd? Was that the right word? She had no idea what could make them all stampede, and she had a sinking feeling that if she found out, it wouldn't be pleasant. Under ordinary circumstances, she would have tried to talk to one of them, but she knew she would be entirely unable to make herself heard over the pummeling hoofbeats.

There was, it seemed, little she could do besides attempt to stay alive. And, given that trying to make sure a stray branch -- or stray centaur -- didn't hit her even in her place of temporary refuge was occupying most of her attention, it was probably best that she concentrate on that.

[Seregon]

The stampede seemed to last for an eternity, and it took every ounce of Valanthia's being to not get swept up into it - unlike her horse, which had! As she clung to the tree before her, she felt her slim form being pelted with pebbles, twigs, and chunks of soil. However, thankfully, none of them were large enough to inflict any serious physical harm or pain. Her nerves, on the other hand, were not so fortunate. The longer this unsettling event went on, the more the young girl became concerned for her well-being, as well as the well-being of those in her party. And what of the elves and the other woodland folk? Were they under attack? Where had this herd come from and, more importantly, where was it going in such a wild and frenzied state? However, just as these concerns began to flood Valanthia's shaken mind, the rumbling began to subside, the ground began to grow more stable, and the onslaught of debris quickly came to an end. Opening her eyes, which she had firmly shut at some point during the event in an attempt to keep sharp objects from gouging her eyes out, the young girl scanned her surroundings. To her dismay, or relief, depending on how she wanted to look at the situation, she was once again all alone, standing in the rain, surrounded by the veil of thick mist. It was as if the event had never even happened. However, the hundreds of hoof marks left behind in the mud swiftly confirmed that it had, that, and the simple fact that Valanthia was now coated in a fine layer of forest debris and dirt.

[Valanthia L'Evienne]

Well, it was over, and she hadn't died. Valanthia took this as some measure of consolation, and peeled herself away from the tree. She gazed again into the rain, trying to work out exactly what had just happened.

Her horse, of course, was gone, and so now she was completely alone. She kicked at one of the pebbles on the ground in frustration. Her companions and bondmate had vanished, her arcana didn't work, and the homogeneity of the landscape seemed designed to frustrate any attempt at finding her way out.

Or maybe not. Val raised her head and examined the forest around her again. There was, in fact, one possible clue that she hadn't had before -- the hoofprints on the ground. She gazed at them carefully.

Staying where she was seemed to be an exercise in futility, especially since she had a sinking feeling that the bizarre rain wasn't going to end. If she were to follow the trail of prints, she at least would avoid going in circles, and her chance of finding her way out might even rise from "none" to "slim." The question was, which way should she go?

Val's gray eyes darted in the direction the centaurs had gone. They were running away from something, no question. But had they even known where they were going? And if everything inside the Veil was trapped within, as seemed to be the case, what were the odds of their arriving anywhere useful?

The princess turned her head the opposite way. Something deeply unpleasant was likely there, something frightening enough to send uncounted centaurs fleeing from it. But the answers that she sought might be there too, and it seemed clear to Val that she wasn't going to randomly happen upon a way out -- or a way to find out what was going on here in what used to be Silrosia. Her heart sunk as her imagination came up with dozens of horrifying guesses as to what might have started the centaur panic, but she already knew what she was going to do.

She brushed her now-filthy hair away from her eyes, and once again drew a stiletto. Then she started walking in the direction from which the centaurs had come, following the trail of marks in the mud. She was trying to be as quiet and unobtrusive as possible -- though it was difficult in this weather -- and she concentrated all of her senses on her surroundings, attempting to avoid being surprised. Not that she knew what to expect, but if she was going to die, it wasn't going to be due to carelessness.

[Seregon]

Death did indeed appear to be a valid outcome at this point in the journey, and the crushing blow could just as easily come from the violent forces of nature whipping around Valanthia as from the unforeseen dangers looming just ahead. Creeping along the trodden path, the young girl found herself having to be extra careful, for the hoof marks left behind by the stampede cut deep into the soft ground, resulting in watery holes that an ankle could easily be twisted in. Following the clearly defined trail, as carefully as she could, Valanthia couldn't help but acknowledge the nagging sensation that she was once again being watched. She had felt it when she first arrived at this part of the wood, and here it was yet again - but stronger. Did she dare call out as she had the last time? Ironically enough, the stampede had occurred only a moment later. But surely her voice wasn't what had caused such a dramatic scenario to unfold. It was a mere coincidence...wasn't it? They were on the move because of something far more threatening. Weren't they? However, just as she was pondering her predicament, she heard the distinct snapping of a twig upon the forest floor just to the left of where she was standing. And then, to make matters worse, she heard the same sound to her right, only a few dozen steps away, from somewhere within the dense fog. Clearly, she wasn't as alone as she had initially thought herself to be. And clearly, she was surrounded!

[Valanthia L'Evienne]

The ground was almost impassable, and the going was slow at best. But, as it turned out, the terrain was about to become the least of Valanthia's problems.

The feeling was back, like there was someone watching her. Then there were sounds, slight, but more than noticeable in the forest. She could see nothing through the rain and the fog, though her gray eyes darted from one side to the other.

There were at least two of...whatever was there, and she was alone, standing in the mud -- which made flight almost impossible, and which lessened the effectiveness of her stiletto training considerably. Once again, the Princess had the uncomfortable feeling that she didn't have many options.

"All right," she said, facing in the direction from which the second noise had come. "You obviously know I'm here, and I suppose I know that you're here too now. Maybe we should discuss this in a civilized fashion, shall we?" Perhaps spurred on by the frustration that she felt, her speech showed none of the pauses and hesitations with which it was normally littered. She was not being confrontational, however -- she was simply making observations.

"Erm...I'm aware that showing up in the Silrosian woods is generally discouraged for dark elves." Her half-vysstichi heritage was probably not something she could hide at this point. "I'm terribly sorry for the intrusion. But I'm sort of the...the Consul for the province of Arakmat, and since we haven't heard anything from Silrosia in ages, I wanted to see what was going on, and make sure the inhabitants were all right." She shook her head. "You don't have to believe me, I suppose, but given that you've rather got the advantage of me at the moment, I don't think lying is going to do me much good."

Val peered into the fog, though she didn't expect to see anything. A thought occurred to her as she did so -- a thought that was ridiculous on its face, but that might be her one chance. And besides, fog-roaming forest denizens that lived behind an arcane Veil of enormous power and could make centaurs stampede probably wasn't something she could outfight anyway, especially since her own arcana didn't work.

"Here." She took her stiletto, and gently set it on the ground, then stepped back three paces. "It's a gesture of goodwill, or perhaps a simple recognition of my situation, take it as you will. But whoever you are, whatever you are...there you have it." She was taking a chance that whatever she was being stalked by was sentient, but the meager evidence that she had certainly seemed to point in that direction.

[Seregon]

Valanthia heard whispers in the fog as she openly admitted who she was. Clearly her title held a bit of weight in this region, as well as across the realm. However, at first, the young girl couldn't be too sure of how this particular information would be used - in her favor or against her. Then, as she presented her weapon and laid it down, she heard a second round of murmurs, which peaked her interest and raised the very hairs upon her neck, because for there to be an exchange of words within the fog there had to be more than just the two individuals she had first recognized as being just to her left and to her right. These private conversations were happening on both sides, between several parties! "My most noble lady, there is no need to be alarmed," a deep, masculine voice informed her from somewhere in the mist to her left. "We do not come to you with the intent of harm. Instead, we come with the answers to the questions you most likely have about what is occurring in this valley and the city beyond." Then to her right, a second, far more feminine voice rang out from the mist, "Serale, my good lady, my companion is most correct. We come in peace, not only to you, but to the City of Silrosia. We come to assist you and the...," at this point the disembodied voice trailed off, suddenly appearing at a lose for words. But she quickly recovered, speaking in a firm and far more reverent tone, "We have come to assist The Heart of the Forest. Silrosia has fallen ill, my lady, it has been infected and infested by an unimaginable darkness, and it needs our help." It was at this point, as Valanthia focused most, if not all of her attention on the two voices, that she lost track of what was occurring just before her. There, upon the ground, where her stiletto rested, a tangle of roots proceeded to wrap itself around her weapon. Then, before she knew it, it was being directed right at her! She watched, most likely in horror, as the blade spun through the air, flipping along the tangle of roots, until finally, and rather oddly enough, the blunt end of the weapon was hovering in the air a mere handful of inches from her body. "Oh, sorry my lady, I didn't mean to alarm you. I simply thought you would like this item back in your possession," the tree - or rather treant - standing before her suddenly offered, in a soothing and gentle voice, as it dangled her weapon in the air upon a gathering of its own roots, which were once deep within the ground, but were now being used as the young girl would use her own arm. "This forest is no longer a safe haven. You may want to keep that on you at all times."

[Valanthia L'Evienne]

Val had little immediate idea what was going on, but it seemed that whoever it was she had stumbled upon -- and there were far more of them than she had at first suspected -- were friendly. And they at least claimed to know something about what was going on in Silrosia, even if they didn't seem very happy about it.

Then, without warning, her stiletto was lifted off the ground and headed straight for her. It was so unexpected, so without warning, that Val didn't even move. Her only thought was that to be killed with her own weapon, the one she had laid down to try and be nonthreatening, was a fitting sort of irony.

However, the blade stopped just short of her, its handle in front of her. She exhaled sharply, and then grasped the weapon. "Th...thank you," she managed. Then the princess took full stock of what was in front of her. Although she had never seen a treant, she had read enough about them to know what she was looking at. Still, it was both an impressive and an unexpected sight.

"An...an unimaginable darkness?" It seemed that every evil she encountered was unimaginable, or unspeakable, or worse than she could possibly fathom. Either most people didn't have much of an imagination, or the quality of evil in the Realm had been increasing at a dramatic rate recently. Nonetheless, given the power that the Veil seemed to have, it was probably at least a rather impressive evil that had Silrosia in its grasp.

"What...what is it, if you...don't mind my asking," the girl queried politely. "And what...what can I do?" A part of her realized that it was likely that she would be unable to escape herself without confronting whatever it was that possessed the city, regardless of how unpleasant that might be. "And...if you'll pardon my ignorance...what's the Heart of the Forest?" It was a term unfamiliar to her, and she thought it might be best to know precisely what it was that they were discussing.

She looked at the treant, her face dirty but her eyes bright, and listened carefully to whatever might be said next.

[Seregon]

"Yes, my lady, a horrible darkness has been unleashed from the Blackbarch Forest," the girlish voice responded. "Something unforeseen happened when The Veil was put into place. There was a massive disruption that freed the nightmares that dwell there," she continued, coming closer. "As you may or may not be aware, the creatures of the Barch are not of this realm. They are horrific, twisted beasts that have no souls, no moral codes, and, most certainly, no reservations about killing and destroying any innocent life they come into contact with," the fairy concluded as she broke through the mist, appearing before Valanthia in all her glowing, winged glory. "What you should also be made aware of is how the social structure within Silrosia swiftly unraveled once The Veil was in place," the masculine voice stepped in, addressing Valanthia from the left. "Those who were left within the city began to panic. Soon enough they began to turn on each other. Partner this with the numerous hauntings from the Barch and you soon have a city spiraling out of control," he concluded, with a rather sad tone in his voice, as he stepped out of the mist, revealing his centaur form. "So, therefore," the treant spoke as he bent closer to the young girl, "we were called upon to help The Heart of the Forest, for she is the one who placed The Veil in an effort to bring the elves back to their origins. Little did she know how it would impact the city. She may be all powerful, but she is certainly not all knowing. I believe now that she would have gone another route had she known how things were going to play out." The three now quietly looked upon Valanthia, seeing if what they were saying was truly sinking in. The situation was horrible, and it sounded like it was only going to get worse. However, was there really anything she could do for them or the people of Silrosia? It sounded as if the forces at hand were far more powerful than anything she had dealt with before.