The Moon Quest

He stood before the map of the lands, a tall man with a handsome build bearing an angular face with no facial hair, his ears slightly pointed and a prominent pointed nose while sea green eyes tinted with red looked upon the board where the pieces he set into motion were always ready to unleash his greatest plan. Soon the wretched humans that wasted their lives away working hard to build weapons of war and mass destruction would be the key to their collapse. He wore the robes of power, a high collared coat with the constellations as a design upon it while he loomed there, his court was only those he trusted as he looked upon them all, they were people fully devoted to him from heads of families who were promised power to even those he promised to make as a part of his harem and the seeds of a new generation. It was almost time for the before victory party, waiting for servants to come in with trays of a special liquid that held an amber shade, rich in flavour as he looked to scan each slave over though as always his eyes lingered upon his favorite slave he had captured. Her hair was snow white, her skin was almost as pale while she bore the symbol of a crescent moon upon her forehead and those eyes of pure hatred stared right back at him even as she carried the tray of wine up to him, no shackles tonight or chains aside from the decorative outfits that all his slaves wore and each one was placed with a tray near the court there as they went to take their drinks, the slaves all lowered their heads as they stood waiting. "Tonight we drink in victory to the dawn of a new world that shall be reborn in the sanguine rivers of the old ways and flow into the future where once more Gods are feared and roam freely. Humanity will be purged from this world, our kin, our creations will once more be free to roam the lands that once they were hunted to near extinction, simply because the humans decided to prove they could kill us. They hunted us as trophies for coming of age, for currency, for medicine to cure themselves of their own stupidity!" He exclaimed in a cheerful voice, taking a glass up and waiting til everyone did the same before he signaled to drink. But the signal never came, there was a sudden commotion outside that suddenly rocked the building and caused people to stumble when through the glass giant windows came people flying through by wings, five to be exact as each set of wings was a different set of colours. Two women and three men of various seeming skin colour stood their ground, first it was the guards who came to protect their master, others charged into the fight while the court suddenly started to scramble to get out, their faces covered by the snake like masks they wore. "Fools! You dare to come into my lair, you are too late, at my signal they will start my plans to wipe out this world of humans and those who protect them, the Council can not stop me this time!" He gloated in a baritone voice and he turned, his slaves had all ran as well, say the white haired one stayed likely to watch and see if they killed him. It was one of the females of the group who came to fly in and charge at him, her hair was raven colour, her eyes where of amber color filled with a passion for battle and she swung her sword at him, a huge claymore aimed for his head when he unsheathed his battle sword to easily block it, his forked tongue slipped out to let free a hissing chuckle. "I remember a time when we did this a little more intimately, Sasha, now you come wishing to claim my other head?" He grinned devilishly only for a blonde haired male to come in swinging a punch that rocked him away. "You will keep that tongue away from her, you bastard, you broke the rules and we are here to stop you; will you continue to fight us or surrender yourself to be judged?" The man said in an aussie voice as he stood beside the raven haired beauty. "The easy way... now where's the fun in that?" He then grabbed a glowing red stone as he held it up above his head. It was then the white haired slave dashed with surprising speed past the amber coloured woman, taking the claymore from her grasp and dashed in while the Serpent God was focused on his spell only for it to suddenly get interrupted as the white haired woman had thrusted the blade completely through his chest. "Do it now... strip him of his power and seal him away! Do it now while you have time!" She screamed as she then charged to pin him with the blade to the wall behind him. He grinned smugly as if a slave could have such strength under his very nose, only when he moved to yank it out he found out he could not make it budge. It was then the five gathered around him to start the ritual to strip him of his power, to seal him away they each took a piece of his soul away from him and his flesh began to harden into stone, encasing his fist around the red stone and once it was all said and done the five collapsed from such a draw of power, had them all nearly exhausted. "It is done... where is the woman that did that?" Asked the blonde man. They looked around, but no one had seen where she'd gone or even took noticed that his hand had been sliced off, no one noticed that the woman had taken a gray cloak from a dead guard, covered herself and just slowly walked out of the building with the stone hand in her grasp while the building simply was engulfed by flames. ------------------------------------------------------------ There comes a time in a person's life when the smallest of things can cause things to happen to change their very lives, few in fact ever realize that a simple shift can change the world and they never realize that a subtle choice to act upon something, caused them to save the world; and the world itself would never know. Deep within the desert of the Arabie lands there lived a thriving forest that was hard to get to, most people in the desert lived as nomads, water was hard to find and the natives whispered that the forest only allowed those of pure heart to ever step upon its lands. On rare clear nights, with the full moon shining brightly upon the lands could one catch a glimpse some times of the forest or hear animals that came out to hunt in the cool sands before retreating back to the desert when the sands itself would rise to keep it hidden from those that would try to claim or destroy it. It was on a night like this that a small child from a nearby tribe of desert nomads had come out of the tent to get water from the community barrel while her parents slept when she saw the forest itself stood like something the Gods had created thriving with life itself. With trees so tall, reaching up to the clouds and she could almost hear a faint voice singing. The mother quickly noticed the child was gone and the little girl was interrupted with scolding and yanked back within the tents. "Mom, I hear a voice coming from the forest." She said. "It is the Goddess that protects the forest, she is blessing on us protection but even she can't keep you safe if you don't mind the rules." Told the mother, who stood outside after shoving the child back within the home to look upon it and said a silent prayer to offer her thanks for seeing the forest then went back into the tent. Deep within the forest was what seemed to be a thriving ecosystem filled with life of birds, all sorts of animals though no human civilization seemed to exist but the voice of clearly a human was singing not any ritual or praise but simply singing as she bathed in the spring that was drenched in moonlight. Her hair was long, silken fiery red that went past her waistline, her skin a smooth caramel hue through her eyes were like amber gems as she stood waist deep, void of clothing. Animals came to the water to take notice of the only human who lived here, co-existed since she was a child abandoned here as a sacrifice to those who had found the Forest of the Gods, killed too many animals and r***d the land of plants and wood without asking. They had nothing else to give, they were greedy and in their fear, they hand left the child as they ran and the forest, the animals raised her. She lived off the land, learning to hunt, to forage off the land but only took what she needed, she never took more than such and never once felt the tug to join the rest of humanity. It was tonight she felt the call of the forest, the pull to come bathe within the moonlight as she sang then the moon seemed to focus on her, giving her flashes of images. In one image she saw the face of a village woodsman, beloved by all there and seemed to had a kind, warm face yet he held a dark secret beneath his brown eyes as he played with the children. She saw the flashes of fur, of fang and claw, she saw he had courage and that he could have the bravery that would be needed; yet she still didn't know what for. Then she saw another image of a man who was like the charmer of a inn, playing his violin for the Inn, singing music with what seemed to be puppets that moved without strings attached to them or anyone else seeming to move them for him. He stood there simply making people smile, flirting with maidens that caught his eye, earning what coin people would spare or another mead from the bartender to keep him singing to the customers. After that, the images went darker to the oceans as the moon itself seemed to glow then a lightning bolt came crashing down upon the calm ocean causing it to rise into the shape of a great snake with glowing red eyes that looked upon her with a crooked smile as the watery snake opened his maw to charge at her like he would swallow her whole. When finally she woke from the visions and stumbled face first into the water as she panted to catch her breath, fingers digging into the ground to felt the earth within her digits as she tried to understand what the images meant. It was then she saw the image of a woman, made entirely out of moonlight herself took shape before the girl whom she had taken in. "My child, you have been tasked with a mission, and one I do not lightly put on anyone. I had hoped that you could live a full life here, free of the world out there but there is a growing danger who is breaking free from his prison beneath the ocean." "But... my Goddess, mother... you know that I know very little of the world outside from this forest, how can I be of help to you?" "You may not know it now, but because you have lived here, you have a great power inside you, Kaida even though your parents were humans, you had the potential to become something far greater than you could have reached with your human parents; and it is thanks to them that I took you in." She already knew the story, she knew the truth that her parents had abandoned her to be a sacrificial payment for their wrong doings and yet she had been allowed to grow from an infant that suckled from a mother wolf to living almost like a wild child, even if she was given the knowledge of how to read and write any human language as well as speak it, along with any animal language. She lived off the land, with the land wanting for nothing, never becoming sick or harmed beyond simple lessons of what was dangerous or harmful to touch. "The men you showed me... am I to find them?" "Yes, they will be the key to destroying the evil that threatens to drown the world and they will aid you. Your task is to go to them and convince them to help you, I cannot be apart of it but I will make you the first of my champions to fight in my stead." The beautiful woman of moonlight lifted her hands to call what seemed to be a star falling to her hands as she held it, it grew a golden chain upon it and was presented to the girl. "Takes this, it will help you in your steps to complete your quest as my champion and like the stars in the sky, they will guide you to your destiny." Kaida looked upon the amulet that was being presented to her, it didn't even look like the stars one saw in the heavens but a clear opal gem of light blue with a sky in itself within the gem on a golden clasp and chain. It looked small, it could fit in the palm of her hand as she accepted the amulet and could instantly feel the power that pulsed within it. "Takes care to keep that hidden until the right time to reveal that, only show it openly to those who must go with you on this quest, for those of greed will seek to steal it and those who serve the evil will try to kill you and those you are with." Kaida nodded to that, she put it around her neck after the shock of its power ebbed as she was still in the water, standing naked and then in a blink of an eye the image of the Moon Goddess was gone with nothing more than a shower of light that faded from sight. Standing back within the water, she would make her way towards the water's edge to collect her clothing which was short pants, some cloth like shoes to protect her feet and a tunic made of leather and animal skin. She had a staff that she used, along with a longbow and quiver of arrows she used in hunting when she began her trek off to the edges of the forest to the desert sands when she heard a long howl off in the distance causing her to turn and look. There on a slope stood a massive black wolf, deep glowing eyes as he came down to then nuzzle against her. "You are rather close to the edge of the forest." "Yes, I know brother but the Moon Mother has asked me to be her champion, I must start a quest to keep a great evil from devouring the world." "Then I will come with you." "No, you should stay here where it is safe in this forest and safe from the outside world." "That wasn't a request, little dragon, I swore to you when you were little that I would stay at your side and protect you for the rest of your life. Even if you tell me not to follow, I will follow you wherever you go and there is nothing you can do about it." She opened her mouth to argue with her wolf brother, a hand up as if to give a point about her argument only for her to close her mouth while emitting a defeated sigh as she looked out upon the desert sands. They looked harsh, bitter and scary as she had only a few times wandered out on the sands at night to play and hunt, yet she admitted to herself that having someone with her would make the trek less scary for her and would nod. "Thank you, brother, this won't be easy." "If it was easy, the Gods would do it themselves." "I suppose they would, but shouldn't it be that mortals decide the fate of a mortal world?" "If that were true, then even the Gods depend on the mortals to believe in them to even exist." "That's kind of a scary thought there." She said, worry in her voice as she finally took a step upon the sands. "Do you even know which way we need to go?" Brother asked as he looked to her. She took the amulet up to turn it this way and that when the image of the bard appear in the stone as she faced Northwest and would simply point in that direction. "The first to find and convince is that way, he will be needed for the quest." It was then the large wolf that almost matched her shoulder height moved around to lower his head and scoop her up onto his back, instinctively she grabbed onto his fur, adjusting her water bag upon her side and off the wolf took after releasing a howl, as if saying goodbye to the forest for them both as the black wolf carried her across the desert sands; the Quest had begun.