From: CyraLin@aol.com
Subject: [FARPG] Trudging..
Date: Wed, 19 May 1999 14:01:14 EDT

***
"Shinji!" Teri screamed as the darkness of the Aethyr
swirled around a
different darkness emanating from her friend. Shinji's eyes
flared blue
against the buffeting storm around them, his muscles corded
and strained as
he let out a tearing roar...

* * *

A young woman raced through the thick tree line, the cloth
of her dress
flapping wildly as she moved. She was breathing hard, her
breath rapid puffs
of smoke in the cold night air. Every so often she looked
over her shoulder,
searching for the visage of her persuer. She clutched a
small bundle closer
to her chest, then hurried on. The going began to get
tougher, the hill
developing into the rocky trails that riddled the mountain.
Off in the
distance, she thought she saw lights from a camp fire, and
a frail hope
kindled in her mind. Suddenly, there was a blood-curdling
howl perilously
close to where she was. Fear clenching icily around her
heart, she searched
frantically for a place to hide.

No, she realized, they would find her. But perhaps... She
glanced to the
small bundle in her arms, then nods grimly. Chancing
another glance behind
her, she moved to a small alcove between two large tree
roots, and gently
lowered her charge into it. Grabbing a handful of nearby
plants, she began
to camofloudge the bundle when the howl began again, much
closer this time.
Hastily finishing her work, she hesitated long enough to
lay a farewell kiss
upon the small bundle. In responce, it gave an inquisitive
mumble. The
young girl wiped away a stray tear, then began running
again. She barely
cleared the treeline before she was spotted by her hunting
party, no less
than five monstously large wolves. Drool spraying hungrily
as they gnashed
their knife-toothed maws together, their leader giving a
victorious bark
before moving in for the kill.

Desperate to try and lead them away, she raced blindly into
the trees,
hoping that even if she didn't survive, her son might still
have a chance.

She got no more than fifty yards before the wolves fell
upon her.

* * *

Shinji jolted awake from his nightmare, sweat oozing down
his brow. He
thought he had awoken, yet why was it still so dark...?

"Finally you are awake," said a familiar voice from the
shadows. Too
familiar.

"You!" Shinji hissed at his Other. "What's going on?!"

The Other chuckled. "It seems that upon entering this
gateway of yours,
something ripped open the little rift I've been nursing
between our
conciousness wide apart. And, in a wonderful twist of fate,
deposited us in
the others' sides..."

Shinji's eyes widened with realization.

"Yes," the other laughed. "I'm in the driver's seat now, my
dissobedient
little brat, and I intend to use it to it's fullest
potential."

Shinji threw a fist forward, but his hand smashed against
an impenetrable
wall of darkness.

"Don't bother, I know how strong your- I mean, OUR -mind
is. A stained-glass
mentality you are not, that's for sure. Oh, I'm pretty sure
this little
switch will only be temporary, but it will give me ample
time to make
certain things will go in my favor in the future. Good bye
for the moment,
because you can be sure that I'll be back if I come across
any...unfamiliarities. Wouldn't want to tip the others off,
now would I?"
Before Shinji could retaliate, it was gone, leaving him
utterly alone,
trapped within his own mind.

Slumping against his mental prison, he clenched his fists
in frustration.
"Teri, be careful..."

* * *

"He's not breathing!" Teri shouted wildly. The storm had
cleared almost the
instant Shinji had screamed, and they had found themselves
in a place that
was
similar to the Aethyr, but distinct enough to be noticably
different. Dark
boiling clouds overhead blanketed the land in darkness.
They had all regained
their senses relatively quickly, but Shinji had been
another matter. He had
collapsed immediately upon "arriving", and although they
had gotten him onto
his back, he hadn't even so much as twitched. "He's not
breathing!" she
repeated, trying to keep the panic from registering in her
voice. Like it
mattered, she was probably broadcasting that well enough
anyway.

Fear, grey and luminous, surrounded her in a faint haze, as
her hands
fluttered near his temples. She set her jaw and prepared
herself to slap him,
quietly nursing her fear towards anger..

"Here, let me see," Stana interjected, leaning over to put
her ear near his
face. Not a thing. She frowned, then placed her fingers
against his wrist.
She couldn't feel a heartbeat. "I'm going to try CPR..."
she said finally.
Ignoring the growing worry on Teri's face, she moved to
start... when
suddenly Shinji's eyes opened as he took a massive intake
of breath, causing
Stana to stumble backwards.

"Shinji! Are you-" Teri began, reaching forward to steady
him as he sat up.
His hand flew up and grabbed her wrist, wreching a startled
gasp from Teri.
She blushed. He turned to face her, a shadow of a smile
curving his lips.

"I'm fine," he said simply, that same half-smile on his
face. Then, he
noticed he was still clutching Teri's wrist. She thought
she saw something
of a bemused expression as he let it go, and could feel a
desperate
reluctance he hid quickly. She brought her other hand up to
massage her
slightly red wrist while he stood and brushed himself off
as if nothing had
happened. "Well?" he said,
begining to walk away, "Shall we go?"

Teri, still shaken, pushed herself slowly from the ground
before taking a few
hesitant steps after him.  Casting a worried glance over
her shoulder at her
companions, she ran to catch up.

***
Stana watched the two pull farther ahead, and moved to
hurry up.  Who knew
what would happen here in the Aethyr... or the...
different-Aethyr, as it
seemed to be now.  "Beyond the boundaries of the dream,"
Oraiyas had said...
And she stopped, turning to look behind her. Clip slowed by
her side,
watching her face instead of the rear.

"Oraiyas isn't here," she said to the unicorn,
unconsciously pulling at the
hair in its ponytail.

"No. The Dreamer cannot go here," Clip replied, nudging her
forward. "It's
best not to lose them."

Stana nodded, and picked up her pace, joining in step with
Estela, whose
wings twitched nervously.  The once-candy colored fluff at
their feet now
clung to her ankles, and she realized that her feet were
becoming
progressively sodden. THe greyish fog lining the ground
grew progressively
darker the farther they traveled...

Stana was filled with dread, looking at the bare and
blackened vegetation.
Estela cast a glance to the darkening surroundings with a
sigh.  She wasn't
sure she wanted to be here when night fell...

***
Teri shot another worried look at Shinji, who smiled back.
She frowned.  His
body language never varied... she tried desperately to
recall the last lesson
she'd read... but the slight waves of emotion she was
picking up-- probably
only by virtue of proximity and a lot of attention to
detail..  confused her
no end. What had happened there? The scream.. she
shuddered.

"This place looks.. kinda depressing," he said, and Teri
jumped at his voice.
She chuckled, trying to cover her unease.

"Yeah... you can say that again."

"It's almost dark," he continued, looking around.  The sky
seemed to have
fallen, shrunk into a hanging mass of angry black.  Shadows
covered the
desolate ground.
**********
Estela was starting to get annoyed at the long dress.
Soaked as it was, she
was tripping on it more often than not. She reached down,
hoping to be able
to rip it off...only to have it tear the second her hand
touched it, and the
torn piece vanish. Stana shot her a look. "I was tripping
on it...and
it...did this when I tried to tear it."

 Teri turned around, putting out an arm to stop Shinji, and
blinked as he
stopped a scant inch from her arm. Narrowing her eyes at
Estela, she said,
"We can change our clothes?"

"At least a little...." Estela concentrated for a second,
tugging at the
cloth of the dress. With a shimmer it became a white halter
top and blue
jeans, boots appearing on her feet within the mists. The
others blinked at
her. "This should be better, to travel in."

"Um, yeah, just...angel wings and jeans?" Teri asked
sardonically, recieving
a shrug-- of wings rather than shoulders-- in return. With
a momentary blink,
Teri concentrated, and was rewarded with the familiar feel
of her tiny shorts
and tank (red this time). And her old boots..

She grinned, looking down at her feet. "I miss these
suckers.."

Estela cleared her throat at Teri's new attire. "Did you
really need to
change? I mean... there isn't much difference--" she had to
dodge a ball of
fog Teri hurled.

"Can we get going?" asked Shinji, a bit impatiently and
still with that odd
half smile. Teri grinned at Estela, ignoring Shinji for the
moment.

"Yeah, su-- no, wait! I should try something." Estela shut
her eyes,
concentrating. Power came to her at her
concentration....and she extended out
her other-sight to seek out around them. And then started
swearing.

"What's wrong?" Stana asked.

The place was...strange. "Fluid," Tadrin had said. Right
around them it was
solid enough...but she couldn't feel more than three feet
down into the
ground...nor anywhere farther than a few yards from any of
the others. It
just....dissolved, into swirling, half-realized forms.
"There's only about 10
feet radius around anyone, where the place feels solid....I
don't know what
will happen if we get seperated, and I'm not sure if it's
for all of us, or
only the Chosen....Stana, pace off slowly, 20 feet from the
nearest person."

Stana paced it off, casting quick glances back over her
shoulder. "Stop!"
called Estela quickly. "Your space is losing connection
with ours." Stana
quickly ran back over. "Shinji. Like Stana did."

Smirking, he slowly walked away from them....and as he hit
ten feet away from
Teri, Estela shouted, "No farther!" He turned slowly to
face her.

With her eyes still shut she addressed them all. "Tadrin
said the Aethyr is
fluid...but it didn't feel quite like this. This place is
only solid, fully
real...within a few yards of us...and ONLY of the Chosen.
Teri, Stana: make
sure neither of you gets farther than 20 feet from me or
each other at any
time. Shinji, Clip... well, Clip, you being a unicorn maybe
you can get away
with it but don't push your luck...be no more than 10 feet
from a Chosen at
all times. In fact, why don't you stay with your elements'?
I'll just have
to....handle myself, I guess. At least I can keep tabs on
the rest of you."

The others slowly nodded, Clip trotting to Stana's side,
Shinji taking only a
single step back towards Teri. With her odd extra sense
Estela felt the
motions and nodded back. She felt oddly unsteady,
unsettled, here. Most
likely from the lack of solidity. Wrapping her wings around
her, she opened
her eyes, still tracking the distances of the others with
her mental sense
since that much didn't really drain her any, though trying
to keep from
feeling out any farther.

"Alright, now we can go," she said, the tremor in her voice
and her aura
leading Teri to give her a concerned look. "Keep close, and
if I ask someone
to tighten it up, do it, please...I'm tracking everyone."

"Alright....are you ok, Estela?" asked Teri. Shinji took a
step foward then
turned back to wait, not about to risk getting lost in the
Beyond no matter
how impatient he was to go on.

"I'm fine...it's just unsettling feeling everything shift
around us. I'll get
used to it. Come on, let's get out of here, it's dark and
while I can
navigate in it, none of you can ...and this place is none
too welcoming."

"No kidding. Kinda skeeves me out," Teri answered.

Stana nodded quickly in agreement. "And it's wet, too."
Speed racer rain
booties appeared on Stana's feet. She looked at them with a
half-smile before
making them dissapear again.

"Then let's go!" answered Shinji, and started off, forcing
Teri and then all
the others to hurry after lest they get out of the range
Estela had specified
as solid.