This is set a little before the disaster 500 years ago. Have fun with it!

***


It was a normal day, in a normal bit of forest, somewhere in the middle of nowhere. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and meaningless shouts filled the air. Rays of light filtered down through the canopy overhead, creating small streams of gold that reflected off of the lush green underbrush.

Sandy the Furrukin walked along quietly, humming to herself an old tune her mother used to sing to her when she was but a fur ball; which isn’t to say that a fur ball wasn’t exactly what she was at present. She walked with small steps, jumping the occasional fallen log or brush that had grown onto the pearly white trail. She was the largest thing in this neck of woods, she believed. Not too many people came around to talk to her, and the only company she had were the squirrels that so closely resembled her. Her green eyes shined as she peered into a slightly darker area of the trail up ahead. The trees having grown thicker here, they had obstructed the sunlight from shining upon the path she was walking.

Humming innocently, Sandy thought about what she was to do today. Would she go to one of the major meeting points and shoot the breeze? Would she collect butterflies and see what collector she could pawn them off to? Or would she be content to sit and write scrolls of poetry, which she could show off to her friends later? So many possibilities, and she needn’t choose any time soon. Sandy led a life of luxury, she believed. She would forage for meals in the forests like her ancestors used to, spending the day lounging about, never really getting anything done, and quite content with that.

Ahead the path grew even darker, like someone had taken a bit of the night sky, wrapped it around the tree trunks, and strung it across the path. Cautiously, Sandy moved forward into the darkness, believing that nothing was amiss, yet wary in any case. All of a sudden, not two feet from her, two red specks appeared. They grew steadily larger until she realized that they were not a trick of her mind, or two fireflies smitten with each other, but a pair of red, vicious-looking eyes.

She jumped back startled, almost tripping over herself as her sudden movement threatened to throw her off balance. A dark figure stepped out of the shadows, more fully revealed. It was a furrukin, the kind that resembled a bear more closely. It had black fur, and was clothed in a black robe.

The figure just stood there.

Sandy was shocked at the sight of the intruder, but after a moment, she regained her composure. She walked up to the creature slowly and introduced herself.

“He… Hello… My name is Sandy Bottoms, and it is very nice to meet you.”

Seeing that she was getting no response, she raised an eyebrow questioningly, but continued.

“I’ve never seen you before, what part of the woods do you hail from? Or are you from one of the cities? As a guest to my part of the woods, I insist that you come over for dinner.”

She smiled briefly and looked for some kind of recognition or response from this stranger. She backed away a bit, looked to both sides, and was perplexed by the lack of response from this strange Furrukin.

“Look,” Sandy started. “If you aren’t going to talk to me, perhaps you could be on your way? I mean, you do seem to be the type of traveler that would scare away the kinds of friends I have. And plus, I am sorry to say, you… smell a bit.”

Rage flashed into the bear-like creature’s eyes. He threw off his cloak, and Sandy could see that he was armed to the teeth, quite literally. Every bit of his body was covered in weapons, enchantments, tattoos, and belts for holding herbs.

The beast started to hop up and down.

“Listen to me, puny thing! You do not stand a chance at all! Prepare to die for your insult!”

Startled, Sandy backed away from the conversation slowly, but the other Furrukin shoved her rudely.

“What IS your problem?” Sandy asked. “I have done nothing to you! Surely, you look only to rob me blind, and make off with my goods.”

The stranger seemed to grow even more enraged at her comment.

“Problem? I have no problem! You must die! But, you do not stand any kind of chance. For I… HAVE ARTIFACTS! Hee yah!”

“Nooooo,” Sandy screamed. “Not one of your kind! You busy thousands of credits, terrorize everyone, kill whomever you want for no reason but to get “experience” from our slaughter, and then pass it off to the local authorities as part of who you are! I really hate people like you!”

“Silence!” The beast bellowed. “I really hate furrukins!”

Sandy paused for a moment.

“You are a Furrukin though. Why couldn’t you pick something else to hate? Isn’t that kind of… wrong?”

The bear-like Furrukin said, “Not at all. You see, I am really a viscanti. You just can’t tell. And I do so like the bonuses we Furrukins get. So, I just pretend that I am still a viscanti, after the grace of the gods let me reincarnate.”

“So, you’re role playing?” Sandy asked.

“Not at all,” said the stranger. “Also, if you will note, I am of a forestall guild. I wander from acre to acre of forest collecting massive amounts of herbs. Though, I act completely different, my personality has nothing to do with the life I have chosen to live, and if it weren’t for the fact that I kill things all day, every day, I might have the ambition to get a higher rank in my guild and strike out on my own!”

Sandy didn’t know what to make of this threat. Surely, he was capable of doing her great harm, though he didn’t appear to be the brightest of the bunch. His words even slurred once in a while, and he consistently said small words incorrectly. But he was strong; very strong.

“Now,” He started again. “I will proceed to kill you for your horrible crime against myself. I will resurrect you, and if you ever decide to get in a word edgewise, I will kill you once again. You look fairly knowledgeable, like you have seen some combat. I’ll enjoy the experience from fighting and destroying you. But, one last thing I must do. You see, I am insecure about myself, so I need a friend to back me up. So… hold on a second, don’t move.”

The dangerous creature stepped back for a moment and didn’t move. In fact, he was as still as stone for a moment. Next to him, out of thin air, appeared a new face. It materialized into a blue-skinned Merian, who immediately took on the swagger of his counterpart.

The two completely different warriors walked the same way, breathed the same way, and had the same mannerisms as each other. They moved one at a time, first the Furrukin a few steps, then the Merian. The pair moved to either side of Sandy, and prepared to strike.

Without warning, the path erupted into a battlefield. The Merian was pierced through with a large runed blade, and a sticky substance prevented him from moving. A large mass of fur and feathers was in a tangle off the path, a large creature having flown into the Furrukin. Magic users appeared at both sides, casting spells as fast as they could think them, some restoring the damage done to the horde of attackers, and some thrown at the pair of intruders. Shadowy figures moved about the trees, using long range attacks, all directed at the former aggressors.

In the blink of an eye, it was over. Ten or more warriors had overpowered the two, who were no longer actually two at all, but simply heads on pikes. The pikes were slammed into the ground with considerable force, a testament to those that would cross this new group of strangers.

Sandy stood quaking in her little boots as the carnage subsided. The trail was no longer white, but a sickening shade of red.

The apparent leader of the group made his way to the shaking Sandy.

“Sorry, but we have a war going on,” He stated. “You know, people die and stuff. I hope they weren’t related to you, and that you don’t have a problem with us killing them; because if you do, then we’re just going to have to kill you. Experience and all, ya know.”

The man apparently satisfied with her lack of response, jumped high into the air, and was gone in the blink of an eye. His cohorts stepped back into the shadows, similarly dispersing.

Sandy sat down to catch her breath. Stranger killers, apparent doppelgangers, hordes of people teaming up on others, and all of this mayhem just in front of her door.

A normal day indeed.

No replies? *peer*

We think it's very good, Rich. Don't we, everyone?

Yeah yeah it's great. Now where's my money?

Fantastic! Incredible! Beyond compare! A triumph!

... What Kaervas said!

Hee. I wish the stupid people even typed that well, that's all I'm saying

Money? Ack!

Despicable! You common credit whoring, no-good, bad RP, random PKing slob! Trying to steal my lunch money... *eye*

Gnehehehe

Shall I write another funny story? Granted, I didn't kill Kethuru, or blow up the world, but, hey, that's alright with me.

Sure. Funny stories are funny. Although I tell you, you've got a challenge ahead of you if you want to beat Guido.

I loved this on the MSN boards, and actually meant to bring it over myself when I had the time. You beat me to it.

And a sequel would rock.

Were the furrikin and merian supposed to be multiplaying?

Good stuff.

Yes.

Hehe, I finnaly read it. It was awsome, write morrre.
And can I have money too?

No.

Now its horrible.

Nah, just kidding. It was quite amusing.

They've banned Sandy as a name.

I should feel honored.

Don't feel too honoured. There's a Sandy in Estelbar already, that'll be why.

So the person just made Sandie instead.

Yeah, we got a novice furrikin called Sandie and she wants us to title her last name as Bottoms...

That was me.

I wanted Sandie Bottoms as a news reporter character like Barry. I was -not- happy you wouldn't let me choose that as a last name.

So, I got two impressions of the Moondancers.

1. Gwynevere was really nice, but the tickles made me want to kill someone.

2. The leadership is stupid. Give me my name. They were just like, omfg, HELP INSANITY11!!!!! Idiots.

As for that character, I didn't have time, but still had 2400 lessons. I namechanged, password changed, etc, and now my friend has possession of the character, which I'll not use again.

Blah, it was you? Richter! You were using an OOC name (apparently it's from Spongebob Squarepants or something retarded-sounding like that, which I've never heard of/seen) and you wanted us to make you keep it? Ibaesha was trying to get me to tell you it wasn't a Furrikin name so you'd shut up and listen, but you'd left by that point. I'm glad they didn't let you though.

No, the leadership isn't stupid.
Yes, Gwynevere is nice, if totally TOTALLY weird.

Um.

I'll not flame you for that Shiri, but I really want to. No. I lied.

Sandie is a name. In fact, it was the name of my music teacher, who oddly enough was named Sandie Pease (sandy peas).

But that has nothing to do with it.

Fact is, Sandie is a REAL name. Sandy from Spongebob, I assume is spelled Sandy, which is correct.

I believe Sandies are also a type of cookie.

Ban all real names. In fact, Richter is a german name, ban the out of that.

That has NO bearing on anything!

*FLAME*

In -fact-, don't allow the Donalde, if someone ever makes that character. Because it's really the name Donald, and if I remember, there was one time a duck named Donald.

Ban EVERYTHING that SOUNDS like ANYTHING.

That was the stupidest post I've seen you make Shiri.

If I want a character named Sandie, for a female furrikin, I'm sure as going to make it. What the kind of a name is Nejii? You know, I think I heard that name, kind of, once, spelled differently. I'll have to go look it up, but I think it should be banned.

So should Carthan for that matter. Because Carthan sounds like Carthage, and that was once a real place.

!