Fan Fiction ❯ A Fool's Quest ❯ Chapter 2
[ P - Pre-Teen ]
By: Dragon Of Eternal 
Meet Pisces, Etain's dragon friend/consort.
Anime/Manga: Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Fantasy / Adventure | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 06.08.2004 | Pages: 1 | Words: 1.7K | Visits: 166 | Status: Completed
Meet Pisces, Etain's dragon friend/consort.
Anime/Manga: Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Fantasy / Adventure | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 06.08.2004 | Pages: 1 | Words: 1.7K | Visits: 166 | Status: Completed
Etain was right about it being "quite a hike." She and Thiassi had been walking for hours. The sun was just starting to set and shadows were at the peak of their playtime. Shadows darted around trees and bushes, and in the holes of dark places, making it seem as though monsters and demons hid in plain sight all around them. A few brave shadows played around Thiassi and Etain's feet, but these shadows were like overconfident thieves teasing a dragon and were disspelled by Etain's magic balls of light.
Thiassi's own ball of light was floating just a little ways away, but instead of fleeing from this light, the shadows seemed to gather around it. His magic was dim at best.
"Miss Etain, what are these lights I keep seeing in the distance?"
Etain shot a glance that very clearly said, "What? Are you an idiot?"
"I honestly don't know!" Thiassi blurted out, a bit more loudly hand he'd meant to do. Something about his moment seemed to demand that he whisper. Perhaps it was just the feeling amost all humans get when they're in the wilderness, the feeling that the shadows and trees have ears with which to relay the messages to the Beasts of the Wild.
"They're Will-o'-the Wisps."
"Huh?"
"Will-o'-the-Wisps. They lure the foolish and inexperienced toi their dooms. No on has ever followed a Will-o'-theWisp and lived to tell of it. Some people say the shadows that play around the Will-o'-theWisps are the unfortunate souls that followed it." Etain spoke with a confidence that seemd to never leave her voice.
"And to think I almost went after them, thinking they were other travelers..." Thiassi murmurred staring up at the sky now gone an inky black.
The two travelled on in silence for a while. Thiassi thought several times of asking when they would set up camp, but it never felt like the right moment. Though the terrain was getting steadily steeper and more rugged for most of the evening, finally the land leveled out into an oasis.
The oasis was flat land and stretched out until it met yet another mountain slope whose top reached up to the heavens out of sight. In the center of the plain lay a tranquil lake. Trees bearing fragrant, brightly-colored flowers lined the water and gave direction to an unmarked pathway. Unlike the scenery that had greeted them on their way up, everything seemed peaceful and inviting. Thiassi had to admit that the view was impressive.
"It seems like Pisces has done a bit more landscasping, " Etain observed. "Come on Thiassi."
Etain led Thiasi to the edge of the water, then stopped. She performed a series of complex hand movements crouching closer to the surface with the completion of each movement, until finally, she had her hands on the surface of the water.
"By the name of this lake's lord and master, open the stairway to his den!" Etain proclaimed.
The magic balls of light Etain had created slowely faded out, one by one, until they were engulfed in darkness. A bar of bright light that shimmered with pale pastel colors appeared below the surgace of the water's edge to replace the darkness.
light appeared, slightly deeped and farther from the shore. Then another, and another, until a stairway of shimmering bars of pastel light formed that lead down into the lake.
Thiassi was speechless.
"Yes, I know. I'm wonderful and amazing." Etain said as she led the way down the staircase.
When they reached the part where Etain's head was about to go under the surface of the lake, Thiassi grabbed her and pulled her back. "Miss Etain. You don't have gills You'll drown if you go under there!" Thiassi cried.
Etan shot Thiassi another one of those looks that said he was being stupid again.
"I will most certainly not drown. What good would this spell be if it didn't let me get all the way to Pisces's lair? As long as you stay on the steps you can breath underwater. And I'd greatly appreciate it if you'd stop call me 'Miss Etain'. Calling someone Miss or Mister wheever you speak to them, as well as being overly polite and formal, is a sure sign to me that they're in a position that gives them a lot of experience in lying. Etain will do just fine."
"You were being very polite to me when we first me." Thiassi loosened his grip on Etain's arm, and Etain took the opportunity to start back down the stairs.
"Lying through my teeth... The only two createure on this earth more fork-tongued than I are polticians and snakes." Etain chuckled as her head went under the water.
Thiassi started following Etain down the stairs, but despite Etain's bold proclamations that the stairs were safe for breathing, he couldn't help but hold his breath when he went under the water. He got his first breath of aquatic "Air" when a bizarre, pre-historic-looking, aquatic bird swam into his face and he took a breath in surprise. After that he decided that the underwater "air" was okay to breathe.
After a few more steops the stairs leveled out and became a pathway. Behind them it seemed like the bars of light that weren't needed anymore vanished behind them and reappeared in front of them. Thiassi reasoned that it was simply an effect of the dark water.
Etain was very excited. She wasn't showing it, but she felt like she could jump up and down, dance around, and sing praises of the gods. She had a good lead and was going to spend the night in the lap of luxury.
"Thiassi, mind your manners around my friend Pisces. He can be a bit tempermental." Etain's voice was a bit gargely and muffled due to her airpassages being underwater.
They walked along the path for another minute until they reached a ladder. Etain turned to face Thiassi.
"Take a deep breath before you go up the ladder, the spell doesn't work once you get off of the path. I speak from experience here."
Etain took a deep breath and jumped onto the ladder climbing as fast as she could. She soon surfaced to the familiar smell of fish, seaweed, and sandalwood. Thiassi surfaced behind her.
"Wow.."
"For once your words of amazement are not misplaced."
There was indeed much to be wowed about. The ladder had jutted out of a large pool of water surrounded on all sides by ice-encrusted stalacmites. There were a few frost-bitten fish thawing out on the floor. Dried seaweed covered the black stone walls. The sweet scent of sandalwood drifted down from the main cavern.
"Pisces! I, Etain, the sorceress have returned empty-handed due to the tardiness of your information."
A small gem came hurtling through the air at Etain's head which she easily dodged.
"I'd told you about that shop a month ago, but you were too high-strung to go look." Came a loud booming voice from the main chamber.
"Yeah, yeah, I know," she yell up.
"Only gives me one more reason to kick myself..." she muttered. Then she turned to Thiassi. "Com on, stupid." Etain led Thiassi up to the main chamber which was just as impressive as the one before it.
Gold, sapphires, and semi-precious blue stones lay in a large heap in the center of the room Some enchanged swords and magic staves hung frozen to the walls. Fireflys flitted around the corners of the room, hoping to escape an inevitable fate as dinner. In the center of the cavern was a blue dragon, leafing through the pages of a book.
The dragon didn't so much as look up when Etain and Thiassi entered.
Etain grinned and tossed the gem at the dragon, which hit it square between the eyes.
"Lose something Pisces?"
The dragon stood up on it's haunches and roared, showing many of its sharp teeth. It beat the air with its wings and roared again. A truly frighting sight for Thiassi, Etain was sure.
"Oh, quit being such a cry baby!" Etain yelled.
Thiassi grabbed Etain's arm and tried to make her run, but Etain knew there was no danger.
"You're no fun." Boomed the dragon. "If you're going to bring a human at least let me scare it a bit." The dragon chuckled and moved closer to Etain and Thiassi, the latter of which was still trying desperatly to run away.
The dragon casually snapped a few fireflies out of the air with it's barbed tail and ate them. It leaned closer to Thiassi.
"Tasty."
Thiassi whimpered and tried to pull out of Etain's grasp. This was just pathetic.
"Etain! That's a dragon! Big, scary, lots of teeth, breaths fire! Not a good thing to let get this close to you! Let's run while we have the chance!"
"Not all dragons are like that, Thiassi. Pisces falls into that category. He's small, wimpy, and does not breathe fire.The breathing fire thing may be a matter of choice, but that's beside the point. Thiassi, you are making me look bad! Now calm down, shut up, and sit down."
Etain rubbed Pisces's head and leaned down to whisper in his ear.
"I found out who has it. I'll fill you in on every thing in the morning."
Pisces nodded.
"Well you might as well get some rest." He boomed. "Human, you can have the room up the stairs to the left second door to the right." Pisces pointed his tail up the stairs. "Etain, you know where you normally sleep."
Thiassi's own ball of light was floating just a little ways away, but instead of fleeing from this light, the shadows seemed to gather around it. His magic was dim at best.
"Miss Etain, what are these lights I keep seeing in the distance?"
Etain shot a glance that very clearly said, "What? Are you an idiot?"
"I honestly don't know!" Thiassi blurted out, a bit more loudly hand he'd meant to do. Something about his moment seemed to demand that he whisper. Perhaps it was just the feeling amost all humans get when they're in the wilderness, the feeling that the shadows and trees have ears with which to relay the messages to the Beasts of the Wild.
"They're Will-o'-the Wisps."
"Huh?"
"Will-o'-the-Wisps. They lure the foolish and inexperienced toi their dooms. No on has ever followed a Will-o'-theWisp and lived to tell of it. Some people say the shadows that play around the Will-o'-theWisps are the unfortunate souls that followed it." Etain spoke with a confidence that seemd to never leave her voice.
"And to think I almost went after them, thinking they were other travelers..." Thiassi murmurred staring up at the sky now gone an inky black.
The two travelled on in silence for a while. Thiassi thought several times of asking when they would set up camp, but it never felt like the right moment. Though the terrain was getting steadily steeper and more rugged for most of the evening, finally the land leveled out into an oasis.
The oasis was flat land and stretched out until it met yet another mountain slope whose top reached up to the heavens out of sight. In the center of the plain lay a tranquil lake. Trees bearing fragrant, brightly-colored flowers lined the water and gave direction to an unmarked pathway. Unlike the scenery that had greeted them on their way up, everything seemed peaceful and inviting. Thiassi had to admit that the view was impressive.
"It seems like Pisces has done a bit more landscasping, " Etain observed. "Come on Thiassi."
Etain led Thiasi to the edge of the water, then stopped. She performed a series of complex hand movements crouching closer to the surface with the completion of each movement, until finally, she had her hands on the surface of the water.
"By the name of this lake's lord and master, open the stairway to his den!" Etain proclaimed.
The magic balls of light Etain had created slowely faded out, one by one, until they were engulfed in darkness. A bar of bright light that shimmered with pale pastel colors appeared below the surgace of the water's edge to replace the darkness.
light appeared, slightly deeped and farther from the shore. Then another, and another, until a stairway of shimmering bars of pastel light formed that lead down into the lake.
Thiassi was speechless.
"Yes, I know. I'm wonderful and amazing." Etain said as she led the way down the staircase.
When they reached the part where Etain's head was about to go under the surface of the lake, Thiassi grabbed her and pulled her back. "Miss Etain. You don't have gills You'll drown if you go under there!" Thiassi cried.
Etan shot Thiassi another one of those looks that said he was being stupid again.
"I will most certainly not drown. What good would this spell be if it didn't let me get all the way to Pisces's lair? As long as you stay on the steps you can breath underwater. And I'd greatly appreciate it if you'd stop call me 'Miss Etain'. Calling someone Miss or Mister wheever you speak to them, as well as being overly polite and formal, is a sure sign to me that they're in a position that gives them a lot of experience in lying. Etain will do just fine."
"You were being very polite to me when we first me." Thiassi loosened his grip on Etain's arm, and Etain took the opportunity to start back down the stairs.
"Lying through my teeth... The only two createure on this earth more fork-tongued than I are polticians and snakes." Etain chuckled as her head went under the water.
Thiassi started following Etain down the stairs, but despite Etain's bold proclamations that the stairs were safe for breathing, he couldn't help but hold his breath when he went under the water. He got his first breath of aquatic "Air" when a bizarre, pre-historic-looking, aquatic bird swam into his face and he took a breath in surprise. After that he decided that the underwater "air" was okay to breathe.
After a few more steops the stairs leveled out and became a pathway. Behind them it seemed like the bars of light that weren't needed anymore vanished behind them and reappeared in front of them. Thiassi reasoned that it was simply an effect of the dark water.
* * *
Etain was very excited. She wasn't showing it, but she felt like she could jump up and down, dance around, and sing praises of the gods. She had a good lead and was going to spend the night in the lap of luxury.
"Thiassi, mind your manners around my friend Pisces. He can be a bit tempermental." Etain's voice was a bit gargely and muffled due to her airpassages being underwater.
They walked along the path for another minute until they reached a ladder. Etain turned to face Thiassi.
"Take a deep breath before you go up the ladder, the spell doesn't work once you get off of the path. I speak from experience here."
Etain took a deep breath and jumped onto the ladder climbing as fast as she could. She soon surfaced to the familiar smell of fish, seaweed, and sandalwood. Thiassi surfaced behind her.
"Wow.."
"For once your words of amazement are not misplaced."
There was indeed much to be wowed about. The ladder had jutted out of a large pool of water surrounded on all sides by ice-encrusted stalacmites. There were a few frost-bitten fish thawing out on the floor. Dried seaweed covered the black stone walls. The sweet scent of sandalwood drifted down from the main cavern.
"Pisces! I, Etain, the sorceress have returned empty-handed due to the tardiness of your information."
A small gem came hurtling through the air at Etain's head which she easily dodged.
"I'd told you about that shop a month ago, but you were too high-strung to go look." Came a loud booming voice from the main chamber.
"Yeah, yeah, I know," she yell up.
"Only gives me one more reason to kick myself..." she muttered. Then she turned to Thiassi. "Com on, stupid." Etain led Thiassi up to the main chamber which was just as impressive as the one before it.
Gold, sapphires, and semi-precious blue stones lay in a large heap in the center of the room Some enchanged swords and magic staves hung frozen to the walls. Fireflys flitted around the corners of the room, hoping to escape an inevitable fate as dinner. In the center of the cavern was a blue dragon, leafing through the pages of a book.
The dragon didn't so much as look up when Etain and Thiassi entered.
Etain grinned and tossed the gem at the dragon, which hit it square between the eyes.
"Lose something Pisces?"
The dragon stood up on it's haunches and roared, showing many of its sharp teeth. It beat the air with its wings and roared again. A truly frighting sight for Thiassi, Etain was sure.
"Oh, quit being such a cry baby!" Etain yelled.
Thiassi grabbed Etain's arm and tried to make her run, but Etain knew there was no danger.
"You're no fun." Boomed the dragon. "If you're going to bring a human at least let me scare it a bit." The dragon chuckled and moved closer to Etain and Thiassi, the latter of which was still trying desperatly to run away.
The dragon casually snapped a few fireflies out of the air with it's barbed tail and ate them. It leaned closer to Thiassi.
"Tasty."
Thiassi whimpered and tried to pull out of Etain's grasp. This was just pathetic.
"Etain! That's a dragon! Big, scary, lots of teeth, breaths fire! Not a good thing to let get this close to you! Let's run while we have the chance!"
"Not all dragons are like that, Thiassi. Pisces falls into that category. He's small, wimpy, and does not breathe fire.The breathing fire thing may be a matter of choice, but that's beside the point. Thiassi, you are making me look bad! Now calm down, shut up, and sit down."
Etain rubbed Pisces's head and leaned down to whisper in his ear.
"I found out who has it. I'll fill you in on every thing in the morning."
Pisces nodded.
"Well you might as well get some rest." He boomed. "Human, you can have the room up the stairs to the left second door to the right." Pisces pointed his tail up the stairs. "Etain, you know where you normally sleep."