"....Sir Tumchibulch had found himself surrounded by his enemies. They were maliciously creeping on him, watching his every move with their beady eyes, ready to attack. Tumchibulch's right hand was hanging limp, scarlet blood streaming down his wrist. He clenched the sword in his left hand, and a menacing yet noble growl was born somewhere deep in his chest. He parted his aristocratic lips and said in his low husky voice...."

- WHAT?!?!? JUST WHAT DID HE SAY IN HIS LOW HUSKY VOICE? - Cheche yelled at the top of her lungs and fell down on the dusty floor of her tiny tavern room. Her fall caused a growl, no less menacing than that of Sir Tumchibulch, followed by a loud irritated knock on the wall by her neighbors'. The book she was reading was treacherously ruined. Somebody had torn the remaining pages of the novel out and just tossed it under the bed like an abandoned kitten.

She only started reading it out of curiosity. Being stuck in Sol City for so long she was quite bored. But once started, she quickly got hooked, devouring page after page. It took her a couple of hours to get through the whole thing, and she yearned for more. But where should she go? She picked the book again, turning it this way and that. Suddenly, something drew her attention: an ex-libris sign on the inner part of the firm cover. It was an image of an owl holding a book and a blurry inscription saying it belonged to a place called "la biblioteca". Unfamiliar with the word, she pensively scratched her ear and then gleamed. Small as it was, it still was a clue. She had to make the best out of this chance!

She slammed the door behind her and rushed down the ladder, holding the book tightly as a precious treasure. "I'll quickly fetch the book and be right back" - she thought.

Alas!She couldn't have been more wrong about that!  One thing led to another. The directions provided by passersby turned out to be very confusing. After several hours of wandering around the capital, hungry and tired, she found herself in a rather barren place. Desolate and gloomy, it looked awfully old. There was nothing but ruins around. It didn't look like a glamorous Sol City at all! She would rather have accepted the fact that she crossed into some other world instead! Forget about leafy trees and gardens! There were only crooked bushes and dried grass around. No people either. Just ashen dust. The only remaining structure that stood tall was a huge spire of weathered stone in the distance. And even though she still tried to put on a brave face, she felt awfully uneasy. She halted and looked around as she felt someone's gaze on her.

Hidden in the shadows beneath the overgrown hedges, Hylltywyll stared out at the intruder to the little area he'd found for himself in the city after being left here. His magic prevented him from being seen, heard, or even smelt so long as he stuck to the shadows, but he could tell that she had felt his eyes drilling into her from the way she looked around nervously. He smiled at that. He did enjoy messing with people, but this one was interesting.

She was small like him, but not exactly the same. She wasn't so fuzzy for one thing. Her legs were normal, unlike his. She had a more humanish face, though not exactly a pretty one. There was something in her eyes he liked, some hint of mischief he felt. Was she a Fairy too, just not the same kind? The last other Fairy he'd met had been an annoying little goody-two-shoes, but she seemed different. She seemed like someone he could maybe get along with, and if she wasn't, he could easily pull some pranks on her.

Hylltywyll pulled the hood of his little cloak down, his huge ears slipping out of the holes in the sides made just for them. He crept out of the bushes behind her, the shadow of the hedges behind him stretching toward her, as if they were reaching for her. His movements were completely silent in the reaching shadow until he stood directly behind her and the shadow silently shot back into place beneath the leaves.

"HEY!" he shouted as loud as he could, right behind her with a joyfully mischievous grin.

Zendrix had wandered off once more under the guise of the night, his oversized rob parted at its torso, his bare chested glistening under the moon light. The moon had reached its high point as the land beneath it sparkled in its glow. The desolate gloom that blanketed the ruins of what appeared to once be an old abandon settlement provided a serene scene to the otherwise doom of the area. The broken structures around laid shattered in pieces offered little information on what had occurred here but it was evident that no one had settled here in years, maybe decades.

Zendrix paused for a moment, his gaze fixed past the crooked bushes and dried grasslands to the ominous spire at a distance. He had remembered coming from that direction, or so he thought, as he attempted to make his way back to Sol city. He clicked his tongue a bit loudly, calling out to the lion that was prowling the fields not too far from him. “Helios, to me boy!” He called out as the roar of a lion echoed through the darkness. Several moments later a large golden beast emerged from a bush, its skin and fur radiating in a beam of light not unlike the rays of the sun. The cat leaped forward into the arms of the elf, knocking off his hood, reveling the elf’s elegant face, and his long unruly fiery red hair. The two wrestled for a bit on the ground, the lion licking and feigning biting his owner, the dried grass around them crunching beneath them as they rolled. They played a bit together before the two stopped, the cats head shooting up as it caught the scent of something in the area. With a nudge he informed his master of potential strangers in the area. The curious Zendrix got to his feet and surveyed the area with his eyes, patting the dust from his clothes as he searched. He didn’t think to look ahead for any other traveller in such a place, so far from civilization but it would be a welcomed sight after sending many days traveling with only Helios in tow. He fixed his eyes on the land around, hoping to catch what the lion had caught a whiff of.

“Is anyone else here?” He called out in the darkness hoping for a response. He waited several moments before putting it out of his mind. Before he could return his attention to his lion he heard a shout coming from the edge of the destroyed settlement. Zendrix rubbed Helios head, praising the lion for his find before moving in the direction of the voice.
“Who goes there?!” He shouted back, his voice booming through the desolate area.

Cheche felt the gaze that made her turn abruptly, almost dropping the book she was hugging...

Nothing there.

Actually, for a split second, she thought she'd spotted some blurry movement in the bushes to the left. She peered into the thickening dusk trying not to move or even breathe.

Gusts of wind were shuffling the leaves. A large crow took off with a loud cawing, leaving the charred walls below. Obsidian shadows expanded as the day was coming to an end. Apparently, she was overreacting. Come to think of it, she'd been putting too much strain on her eyes lately! Given the kind of stories she'd been into, no surprise she started seeing things. She put the book on the remnants of a wall and slowly rubbed her eyes. It felt as if there was a pinch of sand in them. Cheche sighed, and when she opened her eyes again she was in for a big fluffy surprise.

All of a sudden, there were two large inky eyes in front of her. Although they were as dark as Cheche's, the irises were glistening with blue. It reminded her of a light that sometimes appeared in the night over marshy ground. This most unusual face had a soft pink nose, protruding tusks, accompanied by numerous sharp teeth, and the most mischievous smile.

- HEY! - the fellow shouted gleefully his voice ringing in her ears.

The startled pixie sprang back with a loud high-pitch shriek. The sudden movement made her cloak slide down her shoulders revealing the colorful wings trembling behind her back. The waves of color ran through them violently again and again showing how agitated she was.

Normally, pixies hated fighting, considering it brutal and not as smart (or rather not as fun) as tricking the opponent and fleeing as a final resort. However, Cheche was quite spooked, so the first thing she did was reach into the pouch at her belt and throw a pinch of fairy dust at the stranger. Blood rushed to her pointy green ears, her heart was thumping loudly.
The stranger seemed to be surprised by the desperate move, he started coughing and made several attempts to wipe it off of his face. And then the magic kicked in: an invisible power lifted him above the ground, he put his arms out and kicked his legs. Somehow, that calmed Cheche down. For an unknown reason, the guy didn't look violent or dangerous anymore. Obviously, she had never met anyone like him before, yet there was something familiar about him. In the end, as it always happened, curiosity got the best of her. She slowly approached him and reached out to gently touch his hand covered with dark fur. That made the magic dissipate letting him finally land on the ground. But just when she was about to say something, she heard a loud voice coming from the distance.

-Who goes there?!- the voice demanded. Cheche flinched, momentarily turning in the direction of the sound. The newcomer was still far but was quickly approaching them.

---

Used some Fairy Dust 

Hylltywyll wasn't expecting a handful of dust to be thrown in his face after his little prank. Who carries a pocketful of dust!? He shut his eyes tight, coughing out the dust in his lungs, and frantically wiping at his face to get it off. What the hell!? As he was wiping his face, he suddenly felt his feet leave the ground and went off balance, sticking his arms to the sides on instinct to try and steady himself, but he wasn't falling, no, he was lifting up, floating! He kicked his legs in mild panic, not knowing what was going on. How did it lead to this?

He felt a hand grab his and looked to see the tiny woman he'd just shouted at clutching his hand and looking at him curiously. He floated back down to the ground, his feet hitting the soil again and the magic lifting him up dissipated. He breathed in relief to be safely on the ground again and in control.

"Wha-" he started, but looked when he heard someone else shouting to them from somewhere. How many people were going to show up here?

Hylltywyll yanked his hand away and started scurrying back toward the shadow of a crumbling wall.

Helios was the first to dart forward, excitedly dashing to the edge of the abandoned broken down settlement, the large white lion's emanating glow casted the area in light making it appear as if it were midday. The hooded elf followed sluggishly behind him, letting he small breeze part his robe and gentle press against his bare skin, his fiery red hair drifted along gently whittle wind. Not expecting any real adversaries so far from any known settlement, especially knowing helios or even he would have sensed malicious intent by now. "Helios what ave you found bud?" He asked the lion as the lion pounced up and over the broken encampments before prodding up over a larger crumbling wall, his tail wagging back and forth ready to pounce over his prey. The kitty awaited its masters orders, its eyes curiously looking down at the two critters he had spotted, as Zen drew closer the Lion let off a boisterous booming roar that echoed throughout the night, the lion bared its teeth down at them.

"Id say, Helios must have found something or he wouldn't have made such a fuss" The elf called out as he walked hoping to hear a response from any would be traveller. "Ya know its rude to sneak up on a man while he's enjoying a drink. Id happily share" He called out before reaching in to his oversized black hood and retrieving a bottle of ale, shaking its contents in his hands before taking a long swig from it. He was curious as to who else had taken these old settlement ruins as their pit stop home, and what had brought them so far out to these lands to begin with.

It didn't take long until she saw a faint glow on the outer line of the dilapidated remnants of a settlement. She craned her neck expecting to see someone with a bright lantern. However, no matter how much she strained her eyes, she couldn't tell where the owner of the voice was. There was something strange about the light: it was approaching a little bit too fast. It didn't spread the way the light normally would, but rather jumped from place to place as if a living creature. Finally, it reached the place where the two of them were. Cheche's eyes widened in disbelief as it turned out to be a gigantic lion. A glowing lion, to be precise. Looking at him was somehow challenging, so she quickly turned away. As a fae, Cheche normally felt uneasy around cats. They were the only creatures who could see pixies, even though no other could even sense them. Pixies could be rather secretive when they wanted. Not to mention, this "cat" was tremendously big. To cut it short, she would rather be somewhere out of this huge kittie's jumping range.


Cheche knew well: the battle you might have trouble winning is worth escaping. By nature, she had her iridescent wings, which, under normal circumstances, were enough to get her out of trouble. But the situation called for drastic measures. Therefore, she hit the bat wings graft activation rune right under her left collarbone. Her second pair of wings slid out with a "zinnnnng" and soon enough took her to the severely damaged roof of the building nearby. The lion was snarling and growling. Her new acquaintance was nowhere to be seen , although she could still sense him. She hissed at the lion showing two rows of little sharp teeth.


Soon after, they saw a tall man of a muscular build slowly walking towards them. He was sipping from a flask in his hand. His red hair looked slightly unkempt and mostly resembled a lion's mane. She couldn't see him clearly, for her eyes had teared up, but he seemed to be rather pale. Maybe he was unwell and required some help? His arrival indeed was a bit dramatic, but what if all of it was one huge misunderstanding? She decided to speak.


- Well... traveler. I mean no harm. The name's Cheche. A pixie. I...I'm looking for something around here...ugh..would you mind calling your feline friend back? It is a bit...unnerving....

Hylltywyll darted into the shadows and hid, their body blending into the dark almost imperceivably. His smell and sounds were also magically hidden, which was a very good thing as he shrieked in fear at the sudden appearance of a glowing lion that roared as it bared its teeth down at him!

Why the hell is there a lion here!? Who is this guy? Why is the lion glowing? What was he talking about, sneaking up on him? He was the ambusher here! All he wanted to do was prank that other Fairy, how did it lead to this?

All these thoughts raced through Hylltywyll's head as he stared out at the scene from his hiding place.