The first Casualty of war-A Wynn/Eria fanfic

I’m a big lover of backstory and hunt for it in all games I play, thus when I started playing Yu-Gi-Oh properly a couple of months ago I immediately delved into the Duel network lore, focusing upon the story of my personal deck Gusto. However, I found quickly that (unless I am missing something) the info given is vague and fragmented at best with nowhere near enough character development given to satisfy my desire for backstory to my cards.
So what do I do when I can’t find fluff? I write some for myself of course!
What follows is an example of what I came up with as I focused upon the war that raged between the tribes of Gusto and Gishki. Told from the point of view of Wynn (The Charmer of Wind) I wanted to give an idea of how I viewed the war itself, from the battles to the political side themselves and as I wrote, a quick fluff that was meant to only be about 500 words became well over 2,000.
Due to the fact that I couldn’t find any personalities behind many of the characters show on the Gusto cards, I made them to be as I viewed them based on their picture so you may find them to be slightly different should you have your own visions of them.
Either way, enjoy my first writing in the universe of Yu-Gi-Oh and let me know if its any good
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Once, when she had been young, Wynn had heard someone say that ‘Truth was the first casualty of war’.

Back then, she hadn’t understood what such a statement had meant and had simply pushed it to the back of her mind; focusing instead upon her student life or what she was going to do with her friends once the day’s teachings had ended.

But now she knew what had been meant. Now she had seen the reality of such words played out before her in all of their terrible glory…

Forcing herself to open her eyes, Wynn looked down towards the ground as she flew across the remains of what had once been the borderline of the Gusto territories. Bodies of a thousand shapes and sizes, both born of the natural and unnatural, lay sprawled across the burnt almost wasteland of what had once been a beautiful stretch of pure forest. People of both the Gusto and Gishki tribe lay among each other in deaths embrace, any difference of view or desires completely forgotten as they fell in battle. The corpses of humans, animals, monsters and creatures that Wynn couldn’t put a name to almost seemed to embrace where they lay, lying atop and around others with all discrimination lost.

And above all, was the silence that hung around her, one which seemed to hang over the dead as if the world and forest around them was grieving for what had occurred mere hours before.

With a whisper of a single word, the large body of her new familiar tilted beneath her to carry her downward towards the destruction below.

She couldn’t help but reach below and place a reassuring hand upon Gulldo’s wing as the bird seemed to tense beneath her the further towards the former battleground they got. The wind that Wynn loved to fee upon her face whenever she rode her familiar began to feel thick and claustrophobic around her as it filled with the stench of death. She had to fight back the urge to gag as she felt the horse taste of pitch black smoke wrap around her and the cold taint of magic and other ritual created powers rise up from the ground. Her vision went blurry briefly as her eyes watered against the tainted air, struggling to hold back the instinctive urge to turn and leave the horrid sight of war behind her.

Finally though, Gulldo gave out a loud squawk as he landed, his talon like feet making hollow thumping noises as they dug into the dirt and his wings curled back against his side. The great bird’s head twitched and tilted in a variety of different directions as he searched his surroundings for any lingering threats before he crouched and bent his wing into a ramp like pose, allowing Wynn to slip down from his back.

Once she was standing on her own two feet, Wynn gave a mournful sigh as she clutched her staff tightly and began walking through the debris, finding herself somehow unwilling to make eye contact with any of the people or animals that were beginning the grisly and long task of identified and burying the dead. After a couple of steps, she heard the sound of Gulldo falling into his ever present place by her side. The loud, rhythmic thuds of his footsteps provided some comfort for her as she made her way through the destruction.

This was the third time in a week that Gishki forces had attacked the Gusto homeland, another in a now terribly long line of bloody skirmishes between the two tribes which had revenged the outer boundaries of the Gusto’s home, and had been the deepest penetrating one yet. The Gusto defences had marshalled against them but it had been a long battle and Wynn had been forced to break from the fight in order to intercept a pair of Merrowgeist which had slipped towards the centre of the village during the battle.

She couldn’t help but feel guilty that it had taken so long to find and destroy them, even with the help of the ever smiling Kamui, and that the battle had been over by the time she had managed to return.

Wynn found herself pausing as she looked up towards the massive carcass of a monster that resembled an ogre with a body that degraded into a serpentine fish shape from the waist down, a beast which she had once been told was called a ‘Kharydis Ogre’. She found herself trying to imagine what the monstrosity must have been like to fight against, her green eyes running along the sea of spears and arrows that emitted from its body where Gusto warriors had battle it, her mind imagining its roar as it died…it sent a cold shiver down her spine.

With a prod on her back from his beak, Gulldo pulled Wynn from her thoughts and she resumed her movement towards where a group of hooded figures stood on the edge of the clearing which had held the recent battle. Each was a member of Gusto’s priesthood, authoritive people who had a strong connection with the heart of the forest around them. Wynn had herself been made one of their number shortly after coming to the tribe after demonstrating her own great power…the power of a charmer.

“You need not have come Winda” a hooded man spoke out as she drew nearer, addressing her by the name she had come to bear since becoming a priestess for the Gusto tribe “You should be back at the village to re…”

“I wanted to come Musto” Wynn held up a hand to cut of his well-meaning protest and gave him a forced smile that she hoped would prove to him that she was ok to be there. When he gave a slight nod in reply, she gestured for Gulldo to leave her be and the bird gave a blink of its eyes before turning and returning to the battlefield, seeking for ways it could aid in the clearing.

The priests all gave her a set of nods or murmured greeting as the girl approached the table and she gave them a slight bow before pulling her own hood up over her green ponytail as was customary of a priest in such meetings.

“…we have sent out several of our bird allies to spy across all nearby areas of the forest” one of the hooded men said, continuing from where he had left off before Wynn had joined and not bothering to recap for her “If any of the Gishki have managed to escape they will be found shortly enough. Then we shall leave it to the forest’s wildlife to deal with them as they see fit”

“Which would contain a lot of eating?”

“If that is how they see fit”

“Now then” Musto gave a cough to clear his throat as began to speak; ending the talk that could have gotten harsher with talk of how the forest rewarded those who harmed it “The next matter to attend to is what to do with the Giski dead. The monsters that they have created with their rituals will of course be destroyed but arrangements will have to be made to return the dead to their tribe soon”

“Why should we?” the priest on the far side of the table snapped back in a sudden burst of anger that made even Musto flash a look of surprise “The Gishki have invaded our homes for no better reason than to satiate their own greed! Have you seen these…unnatural monsters that they are using in battle? They are monsters one and all. Why should we offer them any form of generosity or kindness when they clearly have no intention or understanding of such a thing themselves”

Wynn couldn’t help but sigh as several of the gathered priests nodded and murmured their approval for his choice of words. Unnatural had become one of the key words for anti Gishki talks thanks to their use of rituals to summon powerful monsters to use on the battlefield, monsters that were proving more than able to cause a shocking amount of destruction. For people like those of Gusto, who held the truth of nature dearest above all, such a thing felt like a personal insult and something to be destroyed at all cost.

For many of Gusto, Gishki had become the epitome of what was wrong with the world outside of the forest.

“Because, despite what you may want to believe, not all of the Gishki are monsters who have forgotten the honour they once had” Musto kept his voice straight and diplomatic as he spoke, looking the priest who had objected dead in the eye under their hooded helms “It is their leader, Noellia, who is the monster and she is dragging the entire tribe down into a hell of her own creation. She is the one who is corrupting their tribe into the force that had invaded us”

“And how would you claim to know such a thing?”

“Because I have a friend in their tribe” Wynn spoke up, cutting whatever reply Musto had been about to say off even as he opened his mouth. “One whom I know would not want any of this bloodshed” She couldn’t help but cringe at the incredibly disapproving looks which were shot her way the various priests but forced more authority into her own voice as she spoke “I’m sure that if we can find a way to get into contact with her we can maybe come to understand what it is that has happened to their tribe and work to fix it. If we simply decree that all Gishki must die then what separates us from them?”

“We haven’t been murdering the forest!”

“I know…” Wynn paused again, struggling to find the correct words to use. She had to tread carefully with what she said now, had to find a way to make her views clear without making it seem like she supported the Gishki and breaking the trust she had managed to gain from the Gusto in her time since joining them “But we can’t just condemn the whole of the Gishki tribe because of the actions of the few who have made themselves their leaders. There are people who still wish to end the fighting if we can just…”

“Silence!”

Wynn sensed Gulldo give a growl of warning as the priest slammed a palm against the table and shouted out his interruption, the bird appearing by her side ever ready to defend her should the disagreement go any further. For a time, a deep silence fell upon the gathered priests as they seemed to size each other up, a tension which felt like it would degrade into violence should it be shattered.

“Ahem” Musto cleared his throat slowly and moved to stand in front of Wynn, using the action of blocking her from view as a way of defusing the looks of anger that some of the priests were showing towards her.

Taking the hint that she shouldn’t push them any further, the Wind Charmer slowly began to walk backwards towards where Gulldo was awaiting her. She felt a reassuring grip of warmth as the green feathered familiar wrapped one of its wings around her as if to form a physical shield between her and the priests who were clearly not his master’s friends.

With that, Wynn had been effectively removed from the rest of the priest’s talks as they discussed how they were going to react against the attack and what form their own counterattack would take. She caught a series of angered glances from them through a gap in Gulldo’s feathers but failed to manage to catch Musto’s eyes, as if the older priest was avoiding her as he tried to calm the others down and played along with their warmongering talks.

By the time the talk had ended, half an hour later, Wynn found herself wondering just how much the war was changing the people of Gusto before her.

Gulldo gave her a reassuring peck as he stepped back from her, leaving her to see the priests of Gusto turn and leave the table and walk back towards the former battlefield to oversee the clearing procedure and carry out whatever plan they had formulated to do with the dead. She saw Musto cast her a sadly sympathetic look before disappearing from view and leaving her alone with the familiar.

The shock and desperation that had taken the people of Gusto as they rushed to defend themselves against the sudden invasion of the Gishki had left them untrusting and harsh towards outsiders, had made them seemingly unable to understand that not all of them supported Noellia. She knewone of her best friends, Eria, the Water Charmer, was suffering under the rule of the Gishki leader and had heard troubling rumours that Gishki rituals had begun using unwilling ‘volunteers’ to create newer and better monsters for the war in the unholy riturals. It was clear that if Noellia wasn’t taken from power soon, both the Gishki and the Gusto would have past the point of no return, lost to their own war fuelled hatred to even attempt to listen to reason and truth about others feelings.

Neither would even bother try and end the war in any way other than total extermination of the other.

Turning her head from where the priests had stood to speak in disgust, Wynn tore the hood she had still worn off and pulled her green hair free. She had to close her eyes to fight against a trace of tears she could feel growing within them and instead found herself looking down towards where a path of fire that had been ignited during the battle was slowly making its way towards where a Gishki war banner had fallen atop of a Gusto banner, both disgraced during the melee that had raged. To her tired mind, it looked as if the flames were trying to destroy the closeness of the two banners, like the war was destroying that of the two tribes…

With a burst of power, Wynn’s eyes burst into a brilliant green light as she raised her staff to point towards the flames. She vaguely heard Gulldo give a click of his beak as a mini tornado of wind began to form around her body, rising into the air and bending down into a harsh arch that came back down to the ground atop the flames. The fire rose and naked flames expanded and warped as Wynn focused all of her pent up frustration upon them, blasting them with a whirlwind which overwhelmed and suffocated them.

When the wind finally dissipated and Wynn lowered her staff, her breath seeming slightly heavier than previously, there was nothing left but a black smear on the ground to signal where the flames had been.

“I’m sorry Eria”

Yes, the priestess thought to herself, truth was indeed the first casualty of war.
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So what did you think?
If people like how I portrayed the various characters then I may expand upon this and do some other one shots (or maybe a longer story) for the war, show a battle or some character development. I want to write more for Wynn and Reeze

I like it! XDDD

Nice writing you have there. It's kinda repetitive when you describe about the deaths Wynnda saw at the beginning of the story, but I like how you explained it through her point of view. I also like how you started the story, how you describe about Gusto's priests, their motives and their opinions, and how Wynnda felt about it. Epic, man.

There are also some small things that bugged me, but meh, I already like your story, so I'll ignore them XD

Just a little advice. Maybe you can insert spaces between paragraph so it will be easier to read ^^ And yeah, you're the first one who wrote a fanfic about Gusto and Gishiki (as far as I know), so congratz, my friend XDDD Keep up the good work, I'll be waiting for the next chapter ^^

I can feel the tense of war between Ritua and Gusta here. Nice job, comingdarkness. The dialogue looks good, and the storytelling is superb. But one thing that bugs me : The fan fiction has no space between each paragraph which makes me copy pasted it to MS Word and add some spaces in order to read it. For your next chapter, please add some spaces between each paragraph, OK? I'll be waiting :]

Spaces now added!
And thanks for the great reviews guys

nice story indeed. continue!

Alright then, seeing as the pilot fluff got a good reception I went and wrote a full chapter
Seeing as I’m now going to be doing the full story I wanted to do I have changed to name of the topic to a Wynn/Eria Fanfic. This is because this is the story of the war from both sides, told from the point of view of Wynn and Eria representable. I’m starting from the start and will go to the realising of the Steelswarm (and maybe later if people are still enjoying it). This will be a dark tale, one of war and its cost so but it will have its happy moments…just don’t expect one full of joy. War is hell and that is how I portray it.
Anyhow, this chapter is mostly character intros and they tend to just drag out due to a lot of talking so please bear with me past this (possibly) boring dialogue and we shall be getting to the fun stuff soon.
Either way, let us being and if you have any questions or advice/points you would like to make, feel free. I love me some feedback


Wynn struggled to level her own breath as she pressed her small body against the side of an overturned tree, tugging her dirt covered robe tighter and slowly placing her staff on the ground so that she could crawl on all fours to peer through a gap that had appeared in the age old bark. Her green hair shook slightly in the faint wind as she narrowed a single eye against the crack, scanning the open field that she could see beyond for signs of activity or movement which would betray the coming of those she now hid from. She shuffled forward slightly and gave a hiss of pain as a stone dug into one of her bare legs, cutting through her skin to draw a slight trace of blood and causing her to pull away from her peering hole to clutch her knee in instinctive movements.

Overhead, a pair of birds flew across the brilliant blue sky, their bright green feathers reflecting the sunlight in a dazzling sight as they sored through the cloudless blue. They circled above head for a moment, as if watching over the young charmer as she held onto her leg until the pain passed before they both tilted their wings and feel down towards her. The birds cooed to themselves as they landed atop the dead tree and tilted their heads towards her, their eyes seeming to light up expectantly as Wynn failed to hide a warm smile that crept across her face at the sight of the feathered animals.

She had always loved wildlife, always found a place in her heart to have been dedicated to animals and the creatures that lived in peace within the separate world of the small wood that stretched out around the north of the place she called home. Birds were the most common that she saw, often coming to the outskirts of her school to search for easy food or bath in the fountain that stood before the buildings front door and Wynn had always made a point to save a little bit of food for them whenever she could. She loved the way the birds gathered around her and chirped whenever she fed them from a bench outside the school she lived in, their brilliant coats of a colours all standing out against the world around them, impossible to miss.

Uh oh.

“Shes over there!”

Wynn mentally face-palmed in annoyance at herself for managing to daydream as she pulled an eye back towards the hole she had been supposed to be using to keep an eye on the field that lead up to the school.

Now three figures were running at full speed towards where she was hiding, using the presence of the birds as a sure-fire beacon to signal her presence. Gasping to herself, Wynn waved her hands at the birds, shooing them away and feeling a pang of guilt at their somehow disappointed looking faces as they flew back into the air without a treat and left her hiding log clear again. But it was too late; Wynn could already hear the advancing figures cheer in victory as they homed in on her, shapes of human and
inhuman pursuers running across the grass.

Crawling back to her feet and doing her best to ignore the sting of pain from her cut knee, Wynn began to jog away from her forsaken hiding place and in the opposite direction to her oncoming hunters. She doubted she would be able to find a decent hiding place now that she had been found, but she was going to make her chasers work for their catch.

“I see her!” A female voice called out from behind “She’s making a run for the woods!”

“Cut her off!” Another shouted and two of the figures suddenly put on a burst of speed, rushing ahead of the third and hurtling faster than Wynn could possibly hope to outrun given the fact that she was currently moving at a slight limp.

Wynn risked a glance behind and felt a blast of worry take her as she saw them catching up, spreading apart so they could catch her in a pincer movement. She caught sight of staffs similar to her own clutched in their hands and again mentally scolded herself as she realised that she had left her own staff back at the log after putting it down to keep an eye through a hole she had then forgotten to watch.

Why did she have to keep daydreaming?

“Will you just focus for once Wynn...WAH!”

Wynn let out a yelp as her, unintentionally out loud, mental scolding was interrupted by a blast of fire which soared past her, scorching some of the grass by her feet and causing her exposed legs and cheek to tingle from the heat. She tilted her running to move slightly more to the right and angled her body so that she could counter with her own spell only to her empty hand narrowly avoid another wave of flame that swirled overhead. She couldn’t use her powers without her staff yet, needing to use the crystal in its hilt as a catalyst, and now that she had managed to lose it…the young girl was powerless.

Focusing back upon her running, Wynn tried to force every last ounce of her strength into her tired legs to get that final burst of speed before she felt something hard smash against her back and her clothes grow heavy as the fabric absorbed a sudden spray of water. She stumbled under the impact but managed to get another steps behind her before another blast of water struck the back of her legs and they buckled under her own weight, sending the girl crashing to the ground where she simply lay, panting in an attempt to get some air back into her exhausted lungs.

She heard the sound of footsteps sound out around her as her pursuers finally caught up and paused over her, both leaning forward with palms on their knees as they too struggled to catch their breath after the chase. Finally however, one took a step forward and leant over Wynn, the girls head blocking out the light from the sun as she placed shade of the Charmers face and grinned beneath a cover of deep blue hair.

“Gottcha” Eria grinned.
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“Was the fire really necessary?”

“Damn right it was!”

Wynn rolled her eyes as she watched Hiita twirl her staff around in her hands and draw a smiley face in the air with a swirl of fire, the flames hovering in the air for a second before flickering and dying as a wisp of wind whispered through the field. Her friend gave a chuckle as she swirled the staff to rest across her shoulder before looking back towards her and grinning.
“So what’s the score now then?” She asked, raising an eyebrow as she flicked her red eyes between the three girls gathered before her “Cause between nearly being set on fire and managing to lose her staff, I think we can softly say that Wynn lost that round”

Wynn hung her head low in embarrassment as she heard her friend’s chuckle at her expense, resting a hand upon the staff that now lay across her lap. After Hiita, the charmer whose powers rested with the element of fire, and Eria, the charmer of water, had chased after her and used their powers to take her down (Which was completely unfair if you asked Wynn) the game they had been playing had come to an end and Aussa, the Charmer of earth, had taken her time to catch up with them, pausing by the log Wynn had hid behind to collect her staff before following. It had been a rather humiliating way for the improvised game of chaise to have ended but Wynn was still on a somewhat adrenaline high and couldn’t help but start laughing along with her friends.

“Well” Hiita finally said with a grin as the laughter died down “Either way, I know that I’m still top of the leader board for not being caught”

“Oh are you?” Eria raised an eyebrow “Because I seem to recall you trying to hide behind an applecart in town and setting it, and by default yourself, on fire. That was even more of a giveaway for your hiding place then Wynn’s birds where”

“That was one time!”

Wynn gave a slight giggle as she watched the two begin to argue and leant backwards on her hands from her sitting position. Beside her, Aussa gave a mumble that the wind charmer had to be more careful as glowing brown hand was held over her cut leg. The earth charmer’s hand seemed to shimmer as the blood that still ran down Wynn’s leg is a thin line begun to retreat back up towards her knee and back into where the stone had sliced her flesh before the cut slowly sealed back in on itself and left without so much as a mark remaining.

“I definitely need to try and remember that spell”

“Given your level of clumsiness Wynn” Aussa raised an eyebrow “I would say it would be an essential one to know”
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“Bare forth the song!”

Wynn awoke with a jolt from her desk as the sound of cheering and shouting rose through the window that lay open on the far side of the room, a storm of invading noise smashing through the solitude of her previously quite home and shattering her train of nostalgic dreams.

Blinking against the sun light that bathed the room after having her eyes closed for so long; the green haired charmer stood and rubbed her eyes, stifling a yawn which refused to be ignored. On the desk she had been sat at, the small form of Gulldo looked up towards her with a tilted head as he hoped atop of the book that she had started reading before her doze off into memory lane. He gave a happy chirp and smiled through his beak as he nuzzled against the hand she reached down towards him, before spreading his wings and flying up to land upon her shoulder.

The bird that had recently become her familiar had proven itself to be more than loyal towards Wynn on many occasions in the short time that the two had known each other, striving to take the place in her life that the abandonment of Petit Dragon had left her with. It had shown that it could intertwine its essence with her and share power in a way that most familiars would never be able to with their masters, both Wynn and Gulldo becoming one and sharing their power. When they did so, Gulldo would grow greatly in size, going from being small enough to perch comfortably on her shoulder to one that allowed her to ride him into battle as a mount. It was a bond that made the two a great force and partnership…and had all been formed in little under a year.

“Let the forest be amplified!”

Again Wynn looked up towards the window as the voices of cheering and the beat of music began to sound out from the hidden outside. The beat of drums and stringed instruments blended and danced in the air as she walked onto the small balcony that opened up to the village of Gusto. Her green eyes glistened as she felt a soft kiss of wind take her when she left the walled shelter of her room.

Spread out beneath her balcony, the charmer was gifted with the breath taking sight of the village centre that stood in the core of the Gusto tribe’s home. A mass of wooden huts and robe ties that stood amongst the trees of the forest in a complex and surprisingly beautiful array, both manmade and natural structures managing to blend together in perfect harmony. Circler and square huts stood both upon the ground and atop the branches of the great trees in what should have appeared to be a random, with rope bridges and ladders connecting them all together in a complex network of rope and wood. People moved around at their own leisure, having no need to rush about on jobs or business, simply enjoying

It was a sight that Wynn had loved from the first second she had seen it after being given the house, and no matter how many times she looked at it (every morning when she got up and every night before she went to bed as a matter of fact) she would never get bored of it.

Today however, the sight was breath-taking for a the exact opposite reason than it usually was.

Wynn felt a surge of excitement as she saw the usually empty rope bridges and floor below were now filled almost to bursting with the chatting and cheering figures of both people and animals, all pressing in towards the village centre. It was as if every inch of space that could possibly fit a human body had been filled as even more people dropped down from the branches of the trees and birds of different sizes and colour flew down to perch on people’s heads, all the creatures that called the forest home looking in a single direction towards the stage that had been constructed against the great tree in the very centre of the village.

Atop the stage, a band of five held instruments made of wood, weaves and rope, instruments carved from the very bark of the great tree itself. Drums beat out a rhythm of four that repeated again and again whilst the strings of a pair of lutes carried out a series of tilts that echoed across the village centre, across the sea of green haired. The instruments were basic at best and Wynn had seen far better in design during her time before coming to Gusto but she could not deny that the quality and love that had gone into their making.

At the front of the band stood a member of the Gusto priesthood, his hooded figure standing utterly motionless as the sea of green haired people before him swayed to the beat of the music, a symphony of the forest. Slowly, the music began to increase in power and speed as it built up towards a climax before, only go stop short into a quite beat the second that crescendo was supposed to happen.

As the sound of the music became a barely audible beat, the priest slowly lifted his head and held his arms out wide as he began to sing in a slow, calming voice.

We who hold the forest most dear,
Fighting against the horrors we fear,
The wind fights with the animal’s heart,
Never shall we and our motherland part.

For Gusto we fight,
With all of our might,
Against the horrors of night.
For we know the forest is right,
Yes we are the people of Gusto.

They misunderstand,
So we play for our band,
A tribe of truth we stand,
Never shall we and our motherland part.

With another swing of his arms, the priest signed to the crowd and his voice was joined by a hundred others as all sung out as one.

For Gusto we fight,
With all of our might,
Against the horrors of night.
For we know the forest is right,
Yes we are the people of Gusto.

“You not joining in?”

Wynn jumped high enough in her surprise at a voice calling out inches from her head that Gulldo went flying clean from her shoulder to bounce against the banister of the balcony, rolling worryingly close to falling off before righting himself. Spinning around, the wind charmer gave out a cry as she raised her hands into an instinctive defensive pose before managing to even register the existence of the grinning face of a young boy smiling at her.

“Whoa” He laughed as he watched her lower her arms with a sigh “Didn’t mean to scare you Wynn”

“Gods Kamui!” The charmer sighed as she turned back towards the crowd “What have I told you about sneaking up on me like that?”

“Oh you’re no fun Wynn”

Wynn simply rolled her eyes with a slight smirk as she heard Kamui drop from the roof and move to stand beside her, the girl shuffling to the side slightly to allow him room whilst an annoyed looking Gulldo flew back up to her shoulder.

Kamui was a boy of slightly younger age than Wynn, an eternally grinning youth who always managed to find the light side of a situation and the good in others. When Wynn had first arrived in Gusto alone, it had been Kamui who had first accepted her and tried to befriend her and the two had quickly formed a strong friendship. He was one of the two people in the tribe that she honestly knew for a fact that she could trust and had been a in even been the person to introduce her to Gulldo, a relative of his own familiar bird.

The celebrations below was just the start of the annual celebration for the founding of the Gusto tribe, a tribute to the day in which the ancestors made a pact to serve and protect the wildlife around them and formed a bond between their hearts and that of nature. It began with the music and the song like chants of the priesthood and would then degrade into a hundred different groups and people gathered to enjoy the day in whatever way they saw fit, be it drinking or reading quietly in the library or prayer in church. Every Gusto celebrated in their own way and Wynn was happy to just sit and watch.

After all, she had only come to live there a year before and despite the fact that it was clear that this was her homeland…she just didn’t feel like it would be right to join in such an important tradition for the people around her.

“Now I know that look”

Wynn turned to find Kamui fixing her with a slight smirk and raised eyebrow as he poked her in the shoulder and called her attention away from the singing below.

“You’re thinking that you aren’t going to take part in any of the fun aren’t you?”

“How did you…?” Wynn sighed as she stopped herself from asking the question. Kamui always seemed to know when there was something bothering her and she had long ago given up on trying to work out how “Alright then, yes I was. It’s not my place after all”

“Oh I knew you were going to say that. Your so depressing sometimes you know that?” His voice was broken by a kind laugh as
he began swaying on his heels as if suddenly nervous “So me and Reeze got to talking and we decided we are not going to let you just shut yourself up into your room again. Thus, you are coming with me now!”

“What?” The wind charmer found herself backing away from her overbearing friend “Now? You’re kidding right?”

“Do I look like I’m kidding?”

To be honest, Wynn thought to herself, his face would look like he was kidding if he was telling her that he was deathly ill.
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“You know Kamui…this is borderline kidnap?”

“Why yes, I do”

Wynn gave a slight smile as Kamui’s laughter echoed from where he walked a couple of feet ahead of her. She had tried to escape his little ‘make Wynn party’ plan by running as soon as they had emerged into the street from her house but his familiar (a green bird similar to Gulldo) had found her quickly and was currently carrying her towards their destination, dangling from where her cloak was held within its beak. Her struggles had proven useless in weakening its bite on her and she had now simply given in to her fate.

Kamui sung to himself as he skipped down the path, twirling his blue crystal tipped staff around in a variety of complex, and pointless, different styles and seemed to giggle at some un heard joke before using his staff to point towards a clearing that was visible within a little deeper into the forest.

“See that Wynn? That’s where were heading”

“Your taking me to clearing in the middle of the forest far away from the village. Why am I getting bad feelings about this?”

“Oh hush before you give someone ideas”

Wynn rolled her eyes again as she allowed herself to be carried up to the clearing and dumped onto the damp grass with a thud. Grunting something even she didn’t quite understand, the wind charmer pulled herself back to her feet before looking up to where
Kamui had hoped onto of a rock and was grinning down at her.

“Ok? You got me here. What now?”

In response, the young Gusto scout gave a cheery grin a pointed up towards the roof of the treetops before ducking as a sea of confetti fell from some unseen source and a the voice of Reeze echoed around them

“Now? You start enjoying yourself for once!”
--------------------------
Alright, that’s chapter 1 down.
As I said this was just introducing Wynn and her friends so it may have dragged on for some but I just needed to set the scene. Next chapter is the start of the actual plot with a flick over to the other side as I introduce Eria and the Gishki.

just can say this~

continue till the end

So long as at least one person shows an interest in my stories, I shall continue to write them.

I must say. I'm genuinely impressed. I really like your interpretation of the war, and how human you've conveyed the struggle(though it unnerved me a little seeing the other Charmers existing in the Duel Terminal continuity ^^;. One thing I'm very interestes in seeing is why Noelia is doing what she's doing, but given how well you've taken care of all my other concerns... I think you'll do just Fine. MOAR!!!

P.S. Your fic made me realise how lazy I've been with my own work lately, so thanks for reminding me why I write in the first place!

My pleasure, the more writers there are the better. Its seems to be a dying art lately...
Oh and dont worry, there is a reason for why Noelia is being how I portray her. Everything is planned out and will be revealed during the course of the story. Stay tuned!

comingdarkness wrote:

My pleasure, the more writers there are the better. Its seems to be a dying art lately...

Well.... sadly, yeah XD;;; Thanks to you, so this section got a new story again ^^ Anyways,

comingdarkness wrote:

…just don’t expect one full of joy. War is hell and that is how I portray it.

Completely agree with this. And don't worry, a dark-themed storyline is always be my favorite, so feel free to continue your story the way you think would fit to the theme XDDD

As for some feedback... not much, I guess. Still as good as the first part you posted here. Just make sure you don't forget to put the punctuation marks here and there (mainly the full stop in the dialogues), and I got nothing else to complained about ^^ It's okay if you don't put them in casual talk or even a simple RP, but if it's about a full story like this, then yeah, it bugs me XD;;;

I personally like how you describe those instruments they played in Gusto village. I was going to complain about what are those modern stuffs do in a remote village Gusto people lived in (I kinda imagined their village that way XD), until I read what are them made of. Really nice, and creative XD *thumbs up*

Not really dragging like you said, actually. Instead, I like how you set up the setting of Gusto village. I can clearly imagine how it looks like, and the atmosphere of that village seems suit them well XDDD

Continue~! ^^

I have a front cover!

The birds flying in the back are supposed to represent Gusto and the water the Gishki.
A big thank you to a good freind of mine whome I commisioned to do this, he even gave me a discount
(If anyone is interested he has told me to let you know he is open for commisions from anyone)

You know, I like on how you make a story about this. you can even make a song for Gusto. Nice job, comingdarkness. Actually I was surprised to see Aussa and Hiita here since they are not in DT but the way you make their characteristic is already OK, IMO. As for the overall of your story, it's awesome. Really. The gusta village description, charmer's characteristic and lyrics for gusta song, looks good. I'm looking forward for your next chapter, comingdarkness. :]

Right then, let me tell you a little about how I write cause…well because I have nothing better to do
I run mostly of the support of the music that I listen to and nearly all of my story ideas ultimately spawn from a song that I have been listening to. For example, this story came from me being very bored whilst looking at my Gusto deck and listening to the song ‘Young’ by Hollywood undead. I started daydreaming about the idea of the war and in moments my over imagination was running with images of what I thought the war would be like to beats with the music. Later on other songs were taking place for people’s views on other stages of the war and I began to think how Wynn and Eria felt during it. Eventually…this story was born.
And I need to stop rambling…ok, this chapter introduces the other faction in the war-the Gishki. Here I show how I view the actions of the rituals and the roles of the various Gishki cards. I will once again say that this is all merely how I view the Duel Terminal universe so there will be differences to how you view it (or maybe even some established law…though I work as hard as I can to avoid such a thing). Let me know if I get anything utterly wrong and if I can I will rectify this.
Enjoy


Born of the voices in the fire,
Born of the voices within the deep,
May our voices call out to all that hear our choir,
And take the lands that our foes do keep.

The chant of droning voices sounded out across the night, echoing through the streets of the tribe known as the Gishki, beating of stone walls like some unholy calling into being for a presence that know would know and yet would be known by all. People tried to move about their own lives, running or jogging as fast as they dared to past the source of the chant in the hopes of avoiding the effects of what they knew would come. None looked up towards the circle of men dressed in blue, all cupping their hands together in prayer as they spoke their law and words, their faces looking down towards the ground as if each in a deep trance.

In the centre stood the figure of a young woman, her hands held out before her chest as they circled and manipulated a glowing orb of shimmering blue light as a moulder would carve and shape a slab of clay. Her eyes twitched back and forth from beneath shut eyelids and her mouth twitched around the slightest hints of mute words, both separate and in tune with the words of that droned from the chanting mouths of the men gathered around her.

Born of ion and lightning and fire,
Born in the world beyond our world,
Born from the fury of the witches pyre,
We call upon you to burn what our foes would build.

In a darkly lit square in the garden of a large stone house, the gathered whispered their chant in unison, watched closely by a hunched figure which wobbled slowly around the circle in constant patrol, ensuring all did their job correctly and on time. The slightest mistake in what they would do could bare results that were truly catastrophic.

After what felt like an age, the figure raised the misshapen cane it carried and slammed it against the ground, creating a clang of wood on stone that snapped across the chanting like a klaxon. Yet, the chanting figures utterly ignored it as hey continued their repetitive words, the only one who seemed to hear the noise being the girl stood in the middle who used it as a queue to raise her arms to the air as if she was offering the swirling orb to the nights sky itself.

Against the moon light, the orb could be seen to be made out of a substance that appeared to be a mixture between water and a grey gel, the liquid twirling unsupported in the air under the manipulation of the young blue haired woman.

Below her boot covered feet, the ground began to glow as a pale blue light ripped across the circle of blue flamed lanterns, carving a pulsating pentagram formed from inhuman and ancient icons and texts. The woman’s blue cloak seemed to shimmer in some unnatural wind as they began to rise from the ground, her head arch backwards to look up towards the moon through her still closed eyes as her mouth worked the still mute words.

Then, with a second bang of their hunched watcher’s staff, she clapped her hands together and the orb of liquid exploded into light.

The chanting stopped and the light bathed the men in a glow that was both wonderfully warm and an alien cold and several broke from their trances to look upon where the central woman glowed. Her clothes blew fiercely in an unfelt typhoon as the diagram on the ground pulsated and the staff beat out a third beat, causing the gathered men to spread out and form large gaps in their surrounding circle.

“Bring forth the tributes” The watcher called, his voice a wet and harsh hissing sound as the blue light illuminated a face that was a mixture between a snake and a fish, blue scales glowing alongside of four bright orange eyes as a slightly webbed finger pointed towards the centre of the glowing runes.

From within the shadows, a pair of tall figures entered the stone circle, the previously chanting men bowing in respect to them as they parted to allow the newcomers to pass into the circle. The resembled a crude caricature of a man with the head of a whale, flat jaws pushing shut as they both looked up towards the glowing light with a look of something akin to acceptance in their small eyes. It was the look of something that was taking comfort that they were about to die for a greater purpose.

Pausing just before the glowing light, they turned towards the hunched figure and bowed in their own respect as they both called out in deep, gravely voices “We are ready for your blessing, great Shadow of Gishki”

“We again offer you our eternal thanks” the Gishki Shadow said, his slithery voice seeming to boom out load so that all could hear “You two Abyss Soldiers who now give the ultimate tribute to the aims of the Gishki tribe. Though you may now lose your bodies and minds, you can be safe in the knowledge that you go onto something far greater than anything you could have achieved from dying upon the field of battle. You shall become one with our magic and come to stand amongst our greatest warriors. Praise be to you, who represent the best of us”

“And praised be the new Gishki empire” the two Abyss Soldiers chanted back before turning towards the light. They waited for a second before the Gishki Shadow gave a final bang of his staff and they stepped into the light, their large bodies becoming illuminated for a second before they simply vanished into its embrace.

Still holding the source of the light in her hands, the robed girl in the centre of the circle began to manipulate the light again like clay before she held her arms out and dropped it upon the ground. There she continued to wave her slender figures over its rippling mass, using an unseen magic to stir the puddle of liquid and shaping it. She took a step back, her eyes still closed shut and her mouth still working in a mute chant and the liquid began to solidify, rising higher and higher into the air until it stood like the silhouette of a beast that stood nearly twice the size of a man. Then, with a final sway of her hands, one that looked more like an intricate dance than a spell, the now silver liquid began to drip away from the shape, like water running away from a body after it had bathed. Newly formed flesh glistened as it became revealed to the moonlight and scales twitched as they felt the touch of the air for the very first time.

When the last of the liquid had dripped free and been absorbed by the glowing blue ruins upon the floor, the newly born Soul Ogre unleashed a deafening roar.
………………………………………………………………….
Eria released the breath she had been holding with a loud sigh as she slumped against the wall of her private quarters, allowing the fatigue of the day to finally burst free and simply embraced it. Her blue eyes hung half closed above dark bags that stretched across her sleep deprived face, a betraying sign of the fact that the charmer of water had not been sleeping well over the past few days. With a mumble of sound, she pulled her pointed hat off and shook her blue hair free of her eyes, groaning as she felt the traces of slime left on her by the ritual she had been made to carry out earlier that day. A dark ritual that had been just one of a dozen similar ones which had been carried out one after another to forge and summon monsters for the skirmishes that had been flashing along the borders between the Gishki territories and the forest of the Gusto tribes.

Skirmishes that were quickly escalating into a full blown war.

Sighing to herself, she brought the glass of water she had on the side table to her lips and drunk greedily from it, finding some strange solitude from the bland taste. When the glass ran dry, she simply tossed it on the chair beside her and slumped back to her feet, kicking her boots off and throwing her cloak onto the floor in a single fluid movement. Her body moved on auto pilot as she shoved the bathroom door open and leaned against the stone tub. With a twirl of her fingers, a stream of water rose from the well she had installed on the far end of the room and flew like a liquid snake towards her. As it came, she spun her arm (whilst using the other to cover a yawn) and the water span around in a complex dance, steam slowly beginning to rise from it as she used a touch of magic to heat it to an ideal temperature before guiding it down into the tub.

A warm bath was something that the charmer of water could make for herself on a whim, yet it still remained one of her favourite ways to relax after a long day, a way for her to just wash away the dirt that covered her from a ritual and simply be alone to think. Yet tonight, as she allowed the warm water to wrap around her, she was unable to have her mind wonder on anything that she particularly wanted to think about.

The Gishki tribe had been changing as of late, shifting from a culture dedicated to the research of arcane magic and the use of rituals to boon their economy to one focused towards using those same rituals to create beasts of war. The change had started off small, a couple of rituals shifting their intention here and there, but soon the entire tribe seemed to be changing before Eria’s very eyes. The Gishki’s leader had vanished from sight and a woman named Noellia had been appointed to take his place, the name of the original tribal leader being marked as simply missing with no further explanation. Attempts to locate the missing man had simply ceased and Noelia had hidden away within the village centre, using messengers to communicate with all but her most trusted advisors and giving the order for the shift in the type of rituals.

With a slump, Eria’s body slipped deeper into the water until only her eyes and knees remained above waterline as she stared into the void in her thoughts. Raising a hand and pointing a figure, she made a small swirl of water and moved it through the air absentmindedly in her thoughts.

She had been among the first to have seen the changes begin to take the tribe that she had come to call home a couple of years ago. Thanks to her higher skill in magic and her power over liquids, she had quickly been placed with the job of a ritual host, a body that could use its magical power to act as a catalyst for the raw summoning power of bringing life to the monsters that they were creating. A tiring position to be in, but it allowed her to stand in the very centre (latterly) of the rituals that Noelia was demanding.

And that was exactly where she needed to be to see for herself what was causing such changes to occur.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Oh give me a moment’s rest will you!

Pulling her head clear of the water, Eria cast a hate filled glare in the direction that the front door lay behind the bathroom’s wall and reluctantly pulled herself out of the water’s soothing embrace. Twitching her hands in a set of random directions over her head she magically removed most of the water that had been clinging to her hair and skin before donning a deep blue dressing gown. If looks could kill, the front door should have spontaneously combusted under the glare that the water charmer gave it as she sighed and straightened her expression before peering through the spy lens she had installed. It took her a second to even register the face that looked up at her from the other side, despite the fact it was one she knew well, before giving another sigh and pulling the door open.

“Wow. Had I known you were going to greet me like that I would have brought us some wine”

Eria simply gave an irritated huff as she tightened the belt of her dressing grown and mumbled an explanation of having been in the bath before asking “What do you want?”

With an amused smirk at the tint of red that had formed on Eria’s cheeks, the redheaded visitor pulled out a pad of paper from the Satchel bag and held it up towards her with a nod “I’ve been told to give you the newest schedules for next week’s rituals…I’m afraid that there have been more changes”

Raising the dog eared paper up, Eria felt herself mentally curse as she saw that even more supply forming rituals had been replaced with ones designed to create monsters that could only really be described as weapons.

“You getting the same vibe from all of this as I am?”

“Yer…” Aria looked up to her friend and sighed “Emilia…I think that our new leader is planning something bigger than these little outings shes made along the outskirts of the Gusto lines…I think shes planning for…”

“Well we shall find out tomorrow I think” Emilia gave a reassuring smile as she patted the charmer on the shoulder before stepping back out of the door “Noellia is supposed to be making a speech or something in front of the tribe’s higher ups and I’ve managed to worm you into it as my +1 as it were. She claimed that she is going to announce why there have been these changes and some sort of plan for the future…though I’m beginning to doubt that I want to hear it”

Before Eria could even reply, Emilia was gone, nothing more than a wisp of red hair vanishing around the corner of the corridor and a clatter of high heeled boots echoing into the distance.
…………………………………………………………………….
The next day, Eria was forcing a smile as she made her way through a small crowd of mages and members of the higher levels of Gishki society. Her usual blue robe and hat had been cleaned and pressed her staff cleaned in an attempt to give the appearance that she respected those around her, as if she had a place among the Gishki elite when in reality she was simply here as a guest of another.

Looking up towards Emilia, Eria couldn’t help but quietly marvel at her friends ability to find loop holes in rules or convince people to do what she wanted and the redhead had often been able to get information about the inner workings of the Gishki leader’s thoughts even when she shouldn’t have been able to.

Now today, she had gotten Eria into a meeting that, if rumour was true, was going to change the very destiny of the tribe as a whole. By herself, Eria was simple a ritual host who was worried about the direction that her home tribe was heading down but with the aid of Emilia, who shared the same worries, she was able to see first-hand the changes and try to correct from the inside.

If there was anything that Eria could do to try and fix the Gishki’s slowly breaking ways and prevent the escalation of the hostilities against the people of Gusto then she would gladly break a few laws to do so.

“Cheer up Arial” Emilia smiled as she handed her a drink, addressing the water charmer by the name she had been required to take when she had been accepted by the Gishki tribe in front of the others, Eria was only a name between friends. “You’re looking very serious there”

“Sorry, just thinking”

“Ooh…be careful”

It was amazing how Emilia could always appear happy and friendly, even when she was herself anxious about this meeting. The redhead was indeed a perfect liar, able to hide her emotion to all save for those her knew her most…Eria was glad that she was on her side.

A second later and all eyes were turned towards the large door at the far side of the room as a young man entered and cleared his throat. Silver hair glistened in the light as a pair of narrow, piercing blue eyes seemed to stare down every single man and woman in the room at once and a gloved hand lay eternally ready upon the hilt of a sword around his waist. He remained utterly silent as a pair of Gishki Shadows moved to stand on both sides of the door before moving slightly forward and turning back towards the door.

With a deep bow, Avance, the right hand of Noellia, bid his mistress enter.

The bow was followed slowly by the remaining occupants of the room as the leader of the Gishki tribe pushed open the door and entered into the room. With red hair tied into a swirling pattern upon her head and a golden fish fine like pattern, the icon of Gishki which Eria and Emilia themselves wore on their hats, running along her chest, Noellia walked with a straight back and an aura of authority that combined with her cold beauty to make her a truly striking figure.

For a moment there was silence as Noellia gazed upon those before her and Avance moved to stand beside her before she held a hand out towards the gathered and spoke with a steady voice.

“As I’m sure you are aware” She said, her voice echoing slightly as if enhanced in volume by magic as she began to pace back and forth between where the Shadows were stood “Our tribe has undergone several alterations in the past view weeks in terms of the amount of effort that we are putting into the generation of raw materials for trade and defensive warriors, and I’m sure that you are all wondering why this is.

“Well my friends, the answer is both simple and complex. Simple because I have decided to do this for the best interest of our entire tribe as a whole as is expected of someone who has been placed into a role of such power as I and complex because of the method that I have been forced to use to aid us. You see our tribe has grown far greater in number and power than it ever has in the past view years and the area that we currently reside in has started to show signs that it simply cannot offer us the resources and substance that we require, it cannot give us the food or metal or rock that our quickly expanding society needs. Thus we must find an alternative source to acquire these gravely needed resources. And we have found one.

Mist Valley”

Eria couldn’t help but let out a slight gasp as she heard the words ‘Mist Valley’, prompting Emilia to give her shoulder a squeeze in both a reassuring way and as a warning to remain quite. Blue dressed mages and ritual hosts began to murmur to themselves and the Gishki Shadows hissed slightly at the interruption of their mistress’ speech.

“Mist Valley is abundant with life and resources and would provide us with all that we could possibly need for our growing world…what some have started calling our new empire. To take control of the Mist Valley would make remove all of the restrictions that we have faced in the past. It would make the Gishki the greatest tribe that any have seen previously.

The problem however is, of course, the Gusto”

Now Eria found herself being slowly pulled towards the rear of the hall by Emilia, struggling to fight back the unyielding urge to roar and scream out. This was wrong! Noellia couldn’t be serious!

“The Gusto are settled in the forest that stand within the valley, a forest that we must pass through in order to reach what we must attain and have made it clear to us that they will stubbornly refuse to allow us to attain said resources. They claim that the forest is somehow sacred to them and that it is of far greater importance then fellow intelligent life forms. They would rather leave the Gishki tribe to die then sacrifice a few trees or metal filled mountain!”

NO, Eria’s mind screamed, That’s wrong!

“So…it is with a heavy heart that I have come to a conclusion” Noellia made a show of looking at both of the Shadows in turn as if searching them for a different solution before looking back up towards the crowd. “I have decided that for the Gishki tribe to survive it must acquire new resources at all costs and…if the people of Gusto refuse to allow us this then they must be viewed as a threat to the survival of Gishki.

"Thus, it is my decision, that the Gishki tribe must declare open war against the tribes of Gusto. We must drive through their lines and take what is ours for the taking. For the future of us all. For the future of the new Gishki Empire!”

And the peace between tribes was shattered around Eria…by the sound of thunderous applause.
……………………………………………………………..
And so it begins.

woagh, a declare of war. this is terifying. i'll wait for the next chapter, comingdarkness

Sorry guys but...I just realised that I dont like Yu-Gi-Oh. No more stories from me ^_^

Well that was rather unexpected. I suppose that work you did was just a giant wast of time then o.oa

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand now I feel bad
I wanted to post a fake chapter for April Fools (after seeing a load of funny things across the net I wanted to do somthing) but couldnt write anything I thought not to be too silly so just said that. The speed of Angelionic caught me by surprise and I admit I had intended to remove that post later...

New chapter, named the Shrine Maiden, almost done!

LOL, you have a good sense of humor there, bro. Really XDDD *thumbs up*

I'll be waiting for that new chapter, then. The title itself already makes me curious about it XDDD

This is the last chapter of character intros, this time introducing you to the characters of Reeze and Caam as well as giving more info about how Wynn had come to take the role of a Priestess in the Gusto tribe.
Also, a new feature that I decided to add is that at a couple of different points I have turned a word or two into a link so you can get a fast link to the card that inspired that part of the writing, it might give you a slightly better idea of how I work as well as giving you a visual representative should you need it. (I will go back and edit links in the last two chapters when I have the time)
Enjoy

Chapter 3
The Shrine Maiden

High at the peak of one of the many mountains that filled the outlines of the Mist Valley, far away from all but the most determined of preying eyes, stands a great shrine.

It stood as a great pyramid of stone and plant life that rose up higher into the sky, leaving the very clouds themselves behind to simply spread across its base, hiding it from the view of those below. The only way to access it was to climb up a twisting column of stone steps which bent at an infuriatingly steep angle, rising higher and higher up the mountain side with no protection against the harsh winds that blew across the peak. It was a daunting task to even reach the top and for the people that resided within the Mist Valley, to attempt to reach the shine was nothing sort of a pilgrimage.

Within the centre of the stone shrine, stood a large crystal which seemed to shimmer against the daylight as if it contained a green mist and emitted a faint humming sound of pent up magical power. Warmth continually managed to emit naturally from the sphere, making the rock it had been built into warm and welcoming to the touch when it should have been cold and making the two long streams of cloth that bordered it, each dyed green with the symbol of the Gusto Tribe, sway against even the strong wind of the mountain top.

The Shrine of Mist Valley was truly a beautiful sight.

And it was to here that Wynn sped, born upon the back of an enlarged Gulldo, souring through the cloud line with but a few powerful flaps of green feathered wings. As they broke through the clouds, she felt a brush of warm breath as Reeze gave a heavy sigh upon sight of the shrine, supporting arms tightening around the charmer’s waist as Gulldo tilted his flight to begin circling around the mountain top, hunting for an ideal landing spot.

This was the second time that the wind charmer had come to the shrine, the first having been the day she had been brought into the fold of the Gusto tribe. Upon the day they had accepted her she had made the long walk to the pinnacle of the tribe’s connection to the ‘spirits’ of the forest. She had walked up the seemingly never-ending stairs with but two companions, the girl riding Gulldo with her now and a cloaked man named Windaar. They had guided her to the guardian of the shrine and she had been ‘tested’ for her beliefs towards life and her heart’s view of the forest.

During her time training and learning the art of being a Charmer under her mistress and teacher, Wynn and her fellow charmers had faced a great deal of trials and had faced far worse life changing moments but Wynn could still remember feeling a shudder of fear take her as she had awaited to hear if the shrine maiden, and the shrine itself, gave her their blessing. The tribe had felt like home to her, a community of people that shared not only a physical resemblance but also a mental one to her, possibly being the very tribe she had been taken from as but a baby when she had been chosen to become a charmer. A place to call home after her training had come to an end and the charmers had split to seek their own fates throughout the world.

Yet the shrine maiden had named her to be a worthy addition to the tribe, claiming that she bared a heart in synch with the forest at a level that very few could attain. Wynn had had no idea what had been meant by that and had quite frankly been shocked (and more than a little embarrassed) when the maiden had declared that the charmer was to be made a priestess, a rank that normally required a lifetime of service to the tribe to attain. There had been those who had obviously argued against this but, once a shrine maiden had spoken, there would be no denying it and Wynn had been made a priestess of Gusto…though she was still mostly shunned by the other priests at meetings.

Gulldo gave out a loud squawk as he finally begun a final orbit and headed towards the base of the final section of stares, his talons gently scraping against one of the two horn like features of the shrine’s build. Wynn caught sight of a figure stood at the mouth of the shrine before Gulldo flew behind a tree line and came to a land with a loud thud. For a second the bird simply paused and looked around, ensuring the safety of the area as he always did when he landed before lowering his wing and allowing his two riders to sleep free.

“Oh it’s good to be back on solid ground””

Wynn smiled as she turned to see Reeze begin a set of stretches as she moved a few steps away from Gulldo, wringing life and energy back into her tired muscles before fixing one of her slightly oversized ponytails of orange tipped green hair where it had been blown out of shape during the flight.

Reeze was a warrior of the Gusto tribe, a strong fighter with a stubborn will that put her on the wrong side of most yet was a friend that Wynn could trust. Though her taste in hairstyles were a little extreme for the charmer, a pair of massive ponytails which could each have easily been the size of her own head, Reeze’s bore an almost duel appearance which she could slip between whenever she felt like she needed to, going from a smiling and somewhat cheeky friend to a serious and incredibly business like warrior in a simple heartbeat. The large scarf she wrapped around her neck complimented both of these sides, but Wynn couldn’t help but wonder if the girl’s two piece outfit wasn’t too cold to be wearing at the top of the mountain. Not that Reeze was ever going to speak of being discomforted by the environment.

But perhaps one of the most interesting things about Reeze was her eyes; for the warrior’s eyes had somehow come to naturally bare the icon of the Gusto Tribe in place of a normal iris, the darker green of her inner eyes morphing from the expected circle into a star shape with four slightly curved prongs. There was no clear explanation for this but for the priests of Gusto, this had been like an open blessing from the forest and Reeze had been seen as something of great importance, a sign that the forest itself was embracing them and taking the tribes own young into its blessing. It had been the sort of spree of religion praise that other tribes had when the icon of their deity appeared on food or dirt and Reeze had always been treated differently by the tribe.

Yet, ironically enough, Reeze was perhaps the one in the tribe who cared least for the desires of the priests and had always hated the way in which they had treated her. Thus she had become a warrior for the tribe, stubbornly refusing to follow the path of priesthood that had been set out for her by going as far in the opposite direction as she could without openly leaving the tribe. Here she had trained under the leader of the Gusto’s defence soldiers, a usually silent man named Windaar , and had come to become one of the most respected warriors in the tribe, despite her young age. When Wynn had first arrived within the tribe, Reeze had challenged her to a duel for no reason other than boredom and the two had become friends after, Reeze seeming glad to meet a girl close enough to her own age that didn’t treat her as special because of her eyes.

It had also been Reeze who had even made it possible for Wynn to officially join the tribe.

Gusto law made it so that none from out of the tribe could join the fold of the forest without an established member of the tribe agree to become their guardian and watch over their merging with the tribe’s customs. For Wynn there had been none who would agree and the only one who wished to see her join was the priest Musto, who had for some reason come to act in an almost fatherly way towards the charmer, but again laws prevented a priest from become the guardian of an outsider. Thus, Reeze had somehow convinced Windaar to vouch for Wynn and become her guardian in name only-the silent warrior not actually playing any role for the charmer afterwards.

The only mark that Windaar’s agreement had left on Wynn’s life in the forest was that her name had been for most changed to Winda in reference to him.

[A/N: there, that’s my explanation for why Winda and Windaar have so similar names]

“Here there Wynn, no daydreaming”

Gulldo gave a loud click of his beak as he nudged his master in the back and caused her to break from her thoughts. As the charmer gave a nod of apology, Reeze simply rolled her star tinted eyes and checked that her, again somewhat oversized, staff was secured in its strap behind her back before looking towards the shrine above them.

“Never did like coming here”

“It’s a necessary evil” Wynn nodded as she gestured for Gulldo to stay put and begun to make her way up the small set of stairs that remained to the top of the shrine “I have to find something out, it’s vital”

Reeze simply gave a grunt of acknowledgment as she followed.

As they approached the shrine, the could see the figure of a single woman stood at the mouth of the shrine, green hair and cream cloak swinging in the wind as she leant against a staff and stared towards the centre of the stone monolith. Wynn felt a twinge of nervous memories as she recognised the shrine maiden as the very one who had ‘tested’ Wynn during her initiation test into the tribe, the one who had declared she had a great fate and that she was to become a member of the priesthood. It wasn’t a feeling that was helped by the fact that she could sense Reeze straighten beside her as she slipped into her business like persona.

“Hello Winda” the shrine maiden said aloud as they drew close, tilting her head slightly so that she could look towards them from the corner of her eye but no more “And Reeze. You are welcome”

“Thank you Caam”

Reeze raised an eyebrow as she stepped aside to allow Wynn to move towards where Caam stood, folding her arms as she watched Caam turn back towards the centre of the shrine without another word. The warrior of Gusto never quite knew what to do with herself when she was in the presence of the mostly silent shrine maiden, finding her eternal calmness to be somewhat unnerving due to her own preference for upfront communication. Caam was referred to as the Serenity of Gusto because she was always so…calm, always simply accepting things around her and rarely showing a sign of expression upon her face. The beautiful, silent guardian of the Mist Valley Shrine.

“What brings you here?”

Wynn smiled as she walked forward and stopped in front of the shrine maiden, placing her staff against her chest and bowing slightly in a gesture of respect that was directed more towards the spiritual meaning the shrine had for the Gusto tribe than anything else. Again Caam gave a nod in return, with a slight trace of a smile, and gestured that the charmer was free to speak.
“I’m afraid this is not a personal call” Wynn said as she reached into the pocket of her grey/brown cloak and pulled out a folded piece of paper to hand over to the shrine maiden “I received this letter the other day and…I need to know if you can confirm it or not”

Caam gave no emotion as she looked down towards the letter and narrowed her green eyes as she took in the name at the top.

“This letter has been addressed to you Winda, not me”

“I know” Wynn nodded, choosing to ignore the fact Caam had referred to her by the name she had been given as a symbol of her appointment despite the fact that the letter had referred to her as Wynn and she had herself been told to refer to her as Wynn “But I want you to read it”

Again Caam gave a slight nod before turning back towards the letter and reading in silence.

The letter had appeared outside of her house the day before during an hour long downpour of rain which had taken the forest, seeming to fall from the sky itself as if it had been carried by the very rain clouds themselves from where it had been sent all the way to the forest before being released with the rain. Wynn had no possible idea how it had been done but, considering the use of rain, she could easily think of a friend controlling the water to transport it…though she couldn’t hope to understand quite how.
Maybe, if she ever saw the writer again, she would ask.

Dear Wynn,

I am sorry that it has been so long since we have spoken but I am afraid that I must contact you now with news which I wish I didn’t have to bare. I have sent this letter to you in secret using the rain in order to avoid any interception from the people of my tribe; I doubt that I would have any other way of contact you with this news now that things have gone as far as they have.

I honestly cannot think of a way to say this to you Wynn so I will simply say it.

The leader of my tribe has decaled open war against the Gusto and the forest around you.

I pray that you will believe me when I say that I, and several others, have done everything we possibly could to have avoided this but we have failed. Already the Gishki tribe has devoted more than half of its total resources to the founding of war materials and our rituals have become utterly dedicated to the creation of monsters fused solely for war. There is no longer anything I can do to slow them and I doubt that I will be able to contact you again for a long time at the least.

There will, unfortunately, be no way for you to return a letter to me anymore, I send this letter solely in hope that you can convince the Gusto tribe to prepare themselves for the storm that is coming…I am sorry that it has to be this way.

Your friend, eternally,

Eria.

The letter had been tainted with the marks of tears, despite being utterly untouched by the rain that had carried it to her and Wynn had simply stared dumbfounded at it before rushing as fast as she could to the Mist Valley Shrine to find confirmation for what she had read, meeting Reeze along the way.

It couldn’t be possibly, could it? Sure the Gishki and the Gusto had never seen eye to eye but to declare open war like this was simply unheard of, there had been no provocation or warning signs other than one or two mild skirmishes along the border, nothing sever enough to prompt open warfare. What was Noelia thinking? What if she meant to completely destroy those who stood in her way? Could she have truly become that power hungry?

Around them, the wind of the mountains began to howl and blast at them as Wynn’s emotions began to bleed into her powers, prompting the natural wind to increase in an attempt to represent her thoughts.

Taking a deep breath, Wynn brought her powers back under her control after her little surge of emotion and the howl of the wind died back down into the steady blow expected from their height. Looking up, the Charmer gave a weak smile as she saw Caam looking up towards her from over the top of the letter.

“Sorry about that…”

“The one who wrote this letter” Caam said, her eyes staring at her in their eternally neutral expression “She is important to you?”

“She’s a close friend from before I came to the village. From when I was young”

“I see. And you trust her?”

“I do”

A silence fell as the two stared at each other, the only noises being the natural blow of wind and the quick cough from where Reeze was stood, the warrior finding the whole scene at least slightly annoying. Gusto icon engraved eyes narrowed against the sun as they watched Caam take Wynn’s appearance in, the shrine maiden seeming to search the charmer for an action that could betray some inner thought.

It was Wynn who broke the silence however, when she saw Caam’s eyes flash with a faint purple light and something sift from the pocket in her cloak. The charmer turned to see the small shape of a stuffed doll rabbit rise from where she had always kept it and hover to be level with Caam’s eyes, its yellow ‘fur’ glistening in the sun. The charmer made a motion to grab it back but it was lifted back further into the air as the shrine maiden watched her reaction.

“This doll…” Caam said, twirling the rabbit slowly in the air with her psychic skill “You have carried it with you since long before you came to our village. I can feel the same presence upon it as I can from the letter”

Wynn gave no reply other than another lunge for the rabbit as she desperately tried to get it back into her possession. She knew that she didn’t really have a chance of achieving this simply by reaching out, but Caam could see that there was something almost childish about the way the girl fought for the small, scraggy doll.

All gusto tribesmen had a small portion of psychic power, always taking the form of being able to open the presence of their hearts to those of the animals around them and gain a level of understand and companionship with the forest unlike any other. It allowed them to truly live in utter harmony with the world around them. Caam on the other hand, was also gifted with the ability to use minor telekinetic powers, an ability very few tribesmen had and Wynn didn’t really have a chance of being able to take her doll back by simply jumping up and down.

“Why is this doll so important to you Winda?”

“It’s…its personal!”

“I see”

For a second, Caam’s eyes glanced to the side to see Reeze walking towards her, the Gusto warrior’s oversized staff held at the ready as if ready to challenge the shrine maiden to battle should she refuse to return the doll. Reeze paused as their eyes met and raised an eyebrow, almost daring Caam not to return it before Caam simply sighed with a faint smile and the doll hovered back towards Wynn. The charmer gave a relieved sigh as she reached out and took the doll back with both hands and slowly returned it to her pocket.

“Thank you…”

With a nod, Caam handed the letter back, seeming to take more care than she would normally have taken with such a thing, as if thinking it would also be important to Wynn, before turning back towards the centre of the shrine.

“I thank you Winda…no Wynn” Caam spoke as she began to walk towards the orb at the centre “It was as a sign of trust that you came to me with this matter, and I know there were those who would have told you it was not worth coming” An eye glanced back to where Reeze remained in a defensive pose. “I meant no offense with my questions”

“I know” Wynn simply nodded as she backed up to where Reeze was stood

With another nod, Caam turned towards the orb and held her arms up towards it, closing her eyes and allowing her face to retake its neutral expression. Standing before the crystal of the Mist Valley Shrine, just as she had done the day she had test Wynn, Caam dashed her own mind with the essence of the crystal, using it as a medium to see the world around her in ways that others couldn’t. No one knew for sure what exactly the shrine maiden could see when she did this but it was said the she could see blurred images of both the future and the past, a timeline of the world’s secrets told through a wall of this mist and void of detail.

Reeze gave a grunt as she took position beside Wynn, watching as wind blew at Caam’s cloak for what felt like an age before the Shrine Maiden released her mental grip upon the crystal and turned back to face tem.

“I am afraid that your friend speaks the truth” Caam sighed as she broke from her trance and turned towards her two guests “The people of the Gishki tribe have indeed come to desire what the valley around us holds and are taking military actions to take it. I cannot give any more information I am afraid save that I am sure this is now the truth. The Gishki tribe now aim to destroy us”
………………………………………………………………
Caam watched in silence as Gulldo gave a deafening thud from his wings and bore Wynn and Reeze into the air, carrying them back down the side of the mountain towards where the main Gusto village lay. She remained motionless until the bird familiar bore them past the cloud line and vanished from view before turning towards the crystal.

Walking towards the crystal, she placed her staff upon the ground and moved to actively place her hand upon the surface of the
crystal. Its surface felt warm to her touch as she again opened her mind to the void wihin and gazed upon the swirling images that hovered up towards her.

“Dark times come” she sighed to herself as she looked into the green mist, allowing her clam features to crumble into one of pain as she saw vague and broken images of the future blend and bubble in front of her, within the crystal’s shell. Her voice began to echo from her yet seemed to fall alien to her own ears as she watched the images of the crystal dance before her “I see war waging in all of its cruel glory. I see families shattered and love forgotten. I see monsters from ages past rising and consuming the world in a purge of blood and steel. I see the forest burning in a hellfire of its own creation and…”

Caam couldn’t help but let out a slight gasp as the crystal took a final image before her, a swirling picture of hell and death.

“I see you Wynn” She whispered to herself, feeling her staff begin to shake as her arm gave a vain attempt to show the emotion she was trying to hold “I see you at the end of all things, standing against the Darkness itself…alone yet not alone”
Before Caam, the darkness within the crystal spread its arms open wide, like a great bird awaiting to consume all and envelop the world in its own destruction…

Tearing her eyes from the crystal, Caam looked back towards the direction that Wynn and Reeze had flown towards and offered up a pray to the gods and the forest. She couldn’t tell what any of those images had meant but she knew that the world around her was about to change and, for better or for worst; Wynn would be right in the middle of the oncoming tempest.
As the winds built up around the mountain top, Caam offered a pray for strength for her friends.


Next chapter the war beings in earnest.

another good story. well i hope u'll jump to event where the war begun XD

“Here they come”

Windaar offered no reply as he glanced to where Reeze had spoken, his eyes glaring thin and narrow in thought from beneath his hood. From atop of the massive form of Egul, the younger girl seemed incredibly small as she peered into the forest around them and the angle made it impossible for him to see her face but he could sense the look of determination she bore from the tone of her voice and the way she stood.

Looking back into the seemingly endless sea of trees that stretched out before him, Windaar wasn’t surprised to find that he was utterly unable to see any sign of movement for himself, Reeze had always had an incredibly keen sense of sight, but he had no reason to doubt that she would be correct.

Raising a hand, he sent a mute message to the warriors gathered in the trees around him, their green armour and mounts camouflaging them perfectly with the leaves and plant life that they used to hid from praying eyes, each staring down into the dirt road that lead through the heart of the forest. A couple of his warriors gave nods or hand gestures of their own to indicate that they were awaiting his order and he felt a twitch of satisfaction that all was prepared for the bloody work that must be carried out this day.

“How many can you see?”

Reeze frowned as her star crusted eyes peered into the depths of the forest, searching the coming force, her mouth moving in silent counting. For a time the girl was still before she muttered a curse and looked back up to where he was sat atop of Egul.

“It looks like a scouting force. Mostly human warriors but I can see some…I don’t know what they are. Monsters that could not have been created naturally. They look like they have been crafted specifically for war by some arcane magic…”

“I see”

Windaar had never been one for over talking and despite his own worry at his companion’s words he wasn’t intending to break that habit as he simply nodded and turned back towards the forest, feeling his body tense slightly as she saw a dark blur appear in the furthest part of his vision, the Gishki advanced party moving towards them. He had known that they were coming, he was waiting for them, but seeing an oncoming army with his own eyes felt like the final proof that the two clans were now at war.

“It would appear that your friend was telling the truth in her claim of what the Gishki intend for the forest”

“Of course she was!” Reeze shot back, seeming to suddenly find offense by his comment on how much he valued Wynn’s warning before now and Windaar simply raised an eyebrow with a grunt “Wynn wouldn’t lie about something like this”

“I never said she would. I merely admitted that she had not been wrong”

“You could at least show her some respect” Reeze muttered as she looked back down at he Gishki, taking them in as their numbers became clearer “You are her guardian after all…”

“I am only so in name and you know that” Windaar glanced back, bringing a touch of warning into his tone of voice to quell the argument that he knew Reeze was about to commence with him “I agreed to represent the girl solely so that she would be able to join our tribe, I have no intentions of watching over her in any other way”

“You will”

Windaar failed to reply as he looked away from her, sighing to himself as he even felt a shift beneath when Egul turned to fix him with a look that somehow managed to resemble a raised eyebrow of amusement. He had no idea what Reeze had meant by that comment, Wynn (or Winda as she was called now haven been given a copy of his own name) was not related to him in any way other than that he had vouched for her when she had joined the tribe nor did she want to be. She hadn’t done anything to make him respect her and he hadn’t even spoken to her outside of important tribal meetings so why should he had trusted her worlds without reason?

Ahead…

Letting out an annoyed breath he didn’t know he had been holding, Windaar looked towards where Egul had mentally gestured, thankful for his partner’s intervention. Below them, the Gishki had entered the designated ‘kill zone’ for the ambush that they had laid out and the time had come to commence the assault.

“This is neither the time nor place to discuss your friend Reeze” He said, not looking back towards the girl beside him but putting enough of an authorities tone into his words to quell any more arguments that Reeze would have given. He was however, glad to hear her give a grunt of acknowledgment and turn her own attention back towards the Gishki “You may make the first move when you feel they are at the ideal position”

Holding out a hand behind her, Reeze awaited for a hooded Gusto priest to hand her a spear that had been engraved with the star like icon of their tribe along the shaft and closed her eyes, her entire mind now shifting at once to her more business based and warrior like mind. She opened her mind to the forest and sensed what she didn’t not see, sensing those ready in ambush for their foes and the marching water based soldiers moving on heedless. She mentally patterned everything out and designated the ideal time to strike then, once that time had come, she opened her eyes with a long sigh.

Muttering a slight prayer beneath her breath, Reeze lifted the spear above her shoulder and aimed it down towards the Gishki, her star shaped eyes narrowing against the early afternoon light that broke through the tree line as she signalled out a humanoid creature at the front of their group. It was a creature that had for the most part the body of a man, but with a head that had been replaced with a moving a twitching octopus. Her superior vision allowed her to detect a thin lay of liquid that covered the normally aquatic head as it shone in the light, lifting up and down with each breath of its host. In one of the octopus’ long arms, a crude, rigged sword was held at ease, it deep orange liquid covered flesh curling around its hilt like a snake but Reeze target was what it held within its human hand.

Standing nearly twice the height of the Gishki hybrid, a hand held banner fluttered against the afternoon wind. A flag of deep blue baring the oversized image of what appeared to be a mirror surrounded in a intricate decoration of gold, each side flanked by six orbs and the glass of the mirror seeming to bare a faint red symbol that Reeze could not read. Glancing around the others in the advancing force, Reeze recognised the same mirror symbol being replicated again and again in varying size and quality across all, carved into the hilt of weapons or crafted into armour. She didn’t know what the mirror was, but it was clearly of some great importance to the Gishki tribe, possible a religious symbol.

And thus, her first target was obvious.

Finishing her prayer, Reeze hurled the spear she held forward with a slight grunt of effort, looking up to follow it as it sored through a gap within the branches that she had cleared beforehand in its now direct path towards its destination. She sense Egul tense beside her as Windaar tightened his grip of the bird’s reigns and time seemed to slow as the projectile flew down.

For a second Reeze realised that she had just opened up the war beyond doubt, hers had been the first blow from either side and she would be the first one to take a life in a conflict that could well mark the end of either the Gusto or the Gishki…

The sound of a wooden pole clattering against the echoed from below as the mirror designed banner came crashing to the ground, the Gishki warrior’s arms realising it as he stumbled back under the impact as the spear drove down into his chest. He gripped the Gusto weapon as if he intended to simply pull it out before slumping to his knees. Behind him, cries and shouts sounded out from his comrades as his octopus like ‘head’ began to spasm, its eight arms shaking and twisting in upon themselves in their dying agony before falling still as he fell to his side into the dirt with the faintest of thuds.

With a clench of his fist, Windaar sent the message out to the warriors around him.

Below, the shouts that rang out amongst the Gishki lines turned swiftly to screams as a sea of arrows descended from the archers that had been patiently waiting within the trees. To them it must have felt as if the trees themselves were alive and striking against them as arrows shot with expert accuracy through branch and trunk to strike against the soldiers. Men fell to the ground reduced to nothing more than pin cushions and those that remained threw themselves into cover or behind the larger monsters that they had created, using their reinforced hides as makeshift walls.

No sooner had the storm of arrows ceased than the defenders of Gusto fell from the trees, a horde of men and women mounted upon giant birds of varying shades of green, all hurtling towards the panicked Gishki with roars of righteous rage.
……………………………………………………………………………………
From atop of the snow covered mountains of Mist Valley, Caam was silent as she stared into the endless void that swirled before her within the shell of the shrine’s crystal. Her eyes held slightly shut in her eternally neutral expression as the smoke of the crystal shifted and morphed to show the events of the valley below, telling her in such detail that Caam may as well have been down there watching in person.

The crystal shimmered in the light as it showed the Gusto’s mounted birds strike against the Gishki like they would a bowl of worms, picking them off one by one with their sharp beaks whilst some of their riders leapt free and engaged their panicked and surprised foes in melee. She felt the forest moan slightly in the back of her mind in protest at the death that had begun to seep into its land alongside the invaders and sighed.

She wished that she could have found another way.
……………………………………………………………………………………
“Move!”

The Gusto priest Reeze had screamed her warning out to didn’t pause to heed her advice as he threw himself to the side, just in time to avoid a spell that had been hurled at him by a Gishki Shadow, the blue lightning flying through the air he had just been occupying and burning a black scorch mark into a nearby tree.

Spinning on the spot, Reeze brought her staff up to parry a blow from a sword wielding human that had been nice enough to announce his attack upon her by shouting his lungs out and brought the butt of the staff slamming against his shins. When he stumbled back from her, she brought the now freed head of the weapon slamming against his face, the oversized metal blade upon it making short work of him and sending him crashing to the ground in a roar of pain. As he fell a second man came charging forwards, and she felt a twinge of revulsion as she saw a set of gills wheezing upon the otherwise human neck. She spun on the spot and struck him across the face with a harsh kick that stopped him in his tracks and did a complete turn as she brought the blade on her staff around yet again to slice a hole straight through his side.

The melee that the attack upon the Gishki advanced party had degraded into didn’t really feel as though it was big enough to be classes as a proper battle, the water based tribe not having dispatched a major force and thus they had become truly outnumbered by those that were fighting with the home advantage. Instead of the mass battle that Reeze had been expecting to face when she had heard that the Gishki were going to invade her home, there was instead a series of bloody duels and small clashes going on around her, each seemingly isolated from the other. These would fight it out and then what was left of the victory would charge in and join with another fight, a strangely systematic way for a battle to rage.

Yet something told her that this was just a prelude for something greater. That this Gishki force was really nothing more than what she had first thought, a scouting party sent to test the Gusto defences and make ready for the true force.

“Aaaaagh!”

Reeze’s thoughts were torn back to the world around her as a Gishki, who had been completely human as far as she had been able to tell, was suddenly hurled into the air as Egul descended from the skies, Windaar still born upon his back, and wrapped him in its talons, the spear he had been about to throw at her clattering harmlessly to the ground. The great bird carried the screaming man high into the air, to the highest branches of the forest’s great trees and then released him without a sound. Reeze didn’t feel like she could watch as the man plummeted towards the ground.

“Bring that thing down!”

Turning back, Reeze hefted her staff back into a ready position and charged back towards the fray, hurtling over dead and broken wagons that had been carried Ghiski supplies in the convoy towards where a large beast was attacking a set of Gusto warriors. The beast bore the basic humanoid shape, buts its head was a twisted fish like shape with a fanged snout with a purple finned collar that ran along the back of its head. Thin webbing ran between the thick fingers that it swung from side to side as it swatted the Gusto aside like flies. Standing nearly twice the height of herself, the beast was indeed intimidating to say the least.

“Regroup around the Soul Ogre!”

Glancing to her side, Reeze’s eyes narrowed in contempt as she saw a Gishki Shadow, one of the shrivelled and vile creatures that seemed to forum some sort of religious role to the Gishki tribe attempting to rally those around him and move them towards the beast that she assumed to be the Soul Ogre.

From above, Windaar again descended upon the back of Egul, the massive bird’s talons clutching onto the orge’s arm and holding it in the air as the man on its back built up a spell which exploded against the beast’s skull. It stumbled backwards and clawed at its bleeding face, trying to remove whatever effect the spell had placed upon it before lashing out towards Egul with its now freed arms. The bird scooped out of the way only to strike back out towards the beast with its talons, ripping long cuts into the ogre’s tough hide. It was a fierce clash of power but Reeze knew that Windaar and Egul would win against the ogre alone with no problem.

“Protect the Ogre!” The Shadow called out again “Do not let it fall”

Angling her run, she tilted to move towards the Shadow as it begun to ready a spell to strike against those who were stuck fighting against the ogre. A couple of men moved to stop her, on being yet another with an octopus where his head should have been and the second having a jaw filled with teeth that she could recognise as being from an anglerfish.

Cursing under her breath, Reeze jumped into the air and hurtled towards the anglerfish based one. As she came down towards him, she stabbed the base of her staff down and stuck it against his face, using his own skull as a ground to pole vault back into the air and land behind him. Her staff sifted slightly as she flew over and landed gracefully on the ground, signalling the unfortunate man’s neck snapping under the weight she had placed on his skull and the front of his face hung disfigured from where the staff had caused a slight cave in as he crumbled to the ground, every one of his long, thin teeth shattered.

His octopus comrade gave a roar of rage as he spun and charged at her, two swords clutched in his ‘heads’ tentacles and a long staff baring that same mirror icon held in his human hands. Standing back up from where she had crouched in her landing, Reeze spun her staff around in her hand in a circular motion. Every inch of the staff had been designed with balance kept in mind and spells had even been interpreted into its wood work, allowing her to spin it again and again in a strong cartwheel as she swung it from her side to her front as the Ghiski struck out with his staff. Catching the metal tip of the staff with the spinning hilt of her own, Reeze smashed it clean from his hands and caused him to stumble as she swung her leg out and kicked him in the back of the knees. As he staggered past her, unable to stop his momentum, she continued her cartwheeling of her staff and slammed it against the base of his spine, causing him to yell out in pain and spasm slightly. Then, with a hiss, she drove the metal edge of her weapon down against his neck.

Leaving him face down in the dirt with a pool of his own blood slowly forming around him as he life essence slipped from him she began to walk towards where the Ghiski Shadow was stood paralyzed, almost garbing at her.

This was her fighting style, mixing harsh kicks and blows from her weapon with swift speed and agility that most could only dream of achieving. Her staff was perfectly balanced to suit her build that she could swing it around in perfect circles of varying speeds to the point where it was nothing bore then a dark blurr beside her perfectly still body. She was cold and calculating when she fought and struck with blows that were unpredictable and yet calculated to bring swift ends to any conflicts that she got caught in. Swift and deadly, Reeze was almost unstoppable when she got into full battle mode and as she advanced towards the shadow, her hand subconsciously begun to spin the staff around faster and faster as her eyes narrowed in contempt. When she reached the now cowering Shadow, she said nothing as she brought the spinning hilt down upon his skull, the momentum adding to a swift kick to send his broken remains flying away.

She wasn’t called the Whirlwind of Gusto for nothing.

Wow, Nice story again from comingdarkness

a scout units? lol never think they would do that coz when i'm playing Travian, i never scout my opponent's Village. just Attack and Receive XD

Well, i think what Reeze do ignite the war. I want to know the event when Eria must stand in the war, watching her friend's attacked and how Noelia gives the command for her troops

continue this!

The next chapter will show Eria again so there will be a little more info on her standing given.
As for the idea of scouting units, you may not scout enermy Village in Travian but in that there are only so many ways a foe can defend and losing men dosent mean that much in the long run but for the Ghiski, they are marching into an enermy terriroty where all around them is a possible death trap or ambush. There are tales and the Gusto speaking to the forest and convincing it to attack and kill intruders on their behalf and the Gishki know this.
So it makes sense for them to use a scout force to test and probe the Gusto defenses so they know what they are marching into before they send their entire millitary force (which wouldnt really be replacable) into the open maw of a hostile and hungry forest.

As the title of this story may suggest, the deception and propaganda that surrounded war is a major theme for the idea that I want to portray. I am a strong believe in the idea that only half of a war is fought upon the battlefield and that it is the politicians and decisions of people that could escalate or end a war. This is one of the main reasons that I have made this a fanfic of both Eria and Wynn, so that I could offer a point of view on the war from both sides and thus give a more rounded tale beyond just ‘evil Gishki invade a forest’.
At the same time I want to have some happy moments so in this chapter we also get a scene with Eria talking to her friends because, damn it, I can tell you now that our dear water charmer is going to miss these happy moments by the time that this war is over…
Also in this chapter, the characters Gishki Emilia and another few are referred to as Spellcasters despite the fact that it is labelled as a Spirit on the actual card. There is a reason for this so don’t worry about it being me losing track (as some people have done when I mentioned it to them)

Breaking news!
Yesterday afternoon, our esteemed leader Noellia dispatched a diplomatic party into the Gusto forest in a last despite attempt to find a peaceful means to the disagreement that seems to have arisen between our two tribes. Noellia has herself revealed that they bore the message of a hope to open up a mutually beneficial trading agreement with which our tribe could gain the resources that our very survival depends upon and the Gusto could gain whatever they saw fit as a price.
Yet, sadly, it would appear that these noble intentions fell upon deaf or turned ears as each of these diplomatic groups were ambushed and massacred by Gusto forces. Reports are regrettably sketchy at this time but it seems as though Gusto raiders ambushed and slaughtered the Gishki representatives in the dead of night as they moved though the central road into the Mist Valley
[continued on page 4]

Eria sighed heavily as she tossed the newspaper she had been reading onto the table beside her, not even bothering to turn further from the front page to read the remainder of the article as she slumped her head into her raised hands, uttering a grunt that she assumed to have been her minds vain attempt to express its stress.

“That bad huh?”

Looking up, Eria gave a grim smile in reply as Emilia gave her a sympathetic smile before turning back to the small try of noodles that she had set up across her knee. The water charmer watched in silence as her red headed friend snapped a pair of chopsticks together in mid-air for a moment, as if selecting a particular noodle in the mass of identical string like food that filled the bowl before her, before lowering them and gripping one expertly between the two sticks of wood. She blew against it for a second to cool of some of the heart before losing all grace that she had achieved the appearance of having by stuffing the end of the noodle into her mouth and making a long, exaggerated slurping noise as she sucked it up instead of simply eating. When it finally disappeared, Emilia seemed to smile at some hidden joke before repeating the procedure.

It was an amusing sight to say the least.

“Zo” the spellcaster grunted rather crudely though a mouthful, her words sounding disfigured due to her inability to actually move her jaw properly “Have yho phouht at all about what you wanna do abou is?”

“Huh?” Eria simply stared in reply, her tired brain not up to quite working out what in the world her friend had tried to say.

“Vi said” Emilia paused and rolled her eyes as she swallowed her food in a long gulp that caused even her to close her eyes in effort before giving another grin and looking back to her “I said, have you thought at all about what you want to do about this?”

For a moment, Eria just continued her stare before she found herself slowly slipping into a fit of giggling which swiftly began to prove contagious as Emilia made a point of filling her mouth again and attempting to talk, this time purely for comedic purposes. Together the water charmer and spellcaster giggled where they sat, almost seeming to lose track of the world as they dissolved into immature children for a moment before struggling to pull themselves back under control.

“Well it’s nice to hear you two have cheered up a bit”

Emilia stuck her tongue out in reply as silver haired girl entered the room, smiling at the both of them as she carried a tray baring three, rather large, cups of a strangely coloured which filled the room with the very strong smell of herbs and spices with their mere presence. Handing a cup to Eria and Emilia in turn with a warm smile, she sat down in the chair on the other side of the red head from Eria and leaned backwards, cupping her own tea between her hands. With a candle light lamp flickering just beside her, Natalia seemed to be the epitome of beautiful calm.

“All joking aside” Emilia finally said, pausing as she looked down to discover that she now held her noodles and Natalia’s tea in a hand each and seemed torn as to which she should put down to access the other. Shrugging, she opted for dragging a table towards herself and placing the tea at the perfect height for her to sip from it without having to even use her hands, a perfect example of lazy multitasking “What do we intend to do about all of this propaganda that seems to be slipping out from our dear tribal masters office?”

“First we need to separate the truth from fiction” Natalia muttered, shifting the cup in her hands from side to side so that she could watch the swirling of the contained liquid “We don’t know for certain that she had intended the forces marched into the forest as a military expedition nor do we know if the Gusto have struck against them in such an unprovoked fashion as these reports claim they did”

“From what I’ve seen of our tribes leader” Emilia stated, using a noddle bearing chopstick to jab at the air as if trying to latterly pluck a thought from the air “Even if that party had been sent into the forest as a diplomatic party they would have been armed to the teeth with enough weapons to make them effectively an army. There is a chance that the Gusto just saw the armoured swords, shields, spears and gods know what else and just made the assumption that it was a war party and reacted appropriately”

“That’s true” Eria muttered “But from what I know of the Gusto they would have been watching that so called ‘diplomatic party’ through the eyes of the forest before attacking. I cannot tell you how they could possibly see what the forest sees, whatever that means, but I know they can and I know they would have”

A silence fell upon the three when Emilia failed to make another point that could have raised question to the motivation of the two sides in the skirmish that had taken place in the forest. Eria simply curled back into the warmth of her chair whilst she watched Emilia resume her relentless attack upon her noodles again and Natalia slowly sipped at her herbal tea with a smile that revealed her happy content in being with them.

Reluctantly deciding to break the calm silence after a time, Eria brought the matter of business to attention.

“A few of those ogres that my branch has been creating in their rituals were sent out with a group of soldiers yesterday…marching for the forest. I don’t know where they were going exactly but they were most definitely not a diplomatic party”

“Seriously?” Emilia rose an eyebrow “I would have thought that Noellia would have at least had the manners to tell us before she started getting people killed. Very inconsiderate”

“I’m not sure this is the time for jokes Emilia. Besides, there didn’t seem to be enough men who left to be a start to the war...it was like she was sending them to look for something?”

“Look for something?” The red head frowned before looking over to where Natalia sat “Has your brother said anything about the matter?”

“No I’m afraid” Natalia shook her head slowly as she took another sip of her drink “Avance doesn’t speak to me that much about what goes on in Noellia’s office to be honest…he’s far to business like for that. What happens in the office stays in the office and all that”

“Hmmm” Eria nodded as she leant back. Natalia’s younger brother, Avance, was the effective right hand of Noellia, the one who could always be found at her side during any official meetings or events. He was her bodyguard and lieutenant, a representative for any military expedition in which Noellia herself wasn’t willing to send off. Their parents had been pleased that their son had gained a position of such great importance but Natalia had been worried about the changes that the role had placed upon her brother and her own political dislike towards Noellia had led her to butting heads with him on more than one occasion. Now the two unfortunately didn’t speak that much and the water charmer was less than surprised to discover that he hadn’t told Natalia about the events taking place behind the locked doors of what was effectively the Gishki war office.

“Well either way” Emilia said, finally finishing with her noodles and dropping the bowl onto the floor beside her “What she sent out was hardily big enough to be classed as a military assault upon the forest and thus there isn’t that much we can do about it complaining wise. She has made it so that it definitely appears as though the Gusto attacked without provocation whether she intended to do so or not”

“My worry is what she is going to do now”

All eyes turned towards Natalia as she slowly put her empty cup of herbal tea down and leaned forwards, her happy face suddenly replaced with one of utter seriousness. The silver haired girl was silent for a moment, as if struggling to come up with the correct words for what she was trying to say before sighing loudly.

“Noellia has now got evidence to back up her claims that the Gusto or initiating hostile actions against our own tribe, justified or not, and is thus free to make an announcement that she is going to strike at them before they do at us”

“The Gusto wouldn’t leave the forest”

“I’m sure they wouldn’t Eria, but Noellia is has to power to convince a lot of people that they will and that will scare them. She is open to start this was completely now for these resources she wants and can even quell the neigh Sayers that have been arguing against her since she made that announcement of war the other day. I usually seek to see the best in people but when I look at Noellia I see nothing but a thirst for power that being driven by something I cannot see. I think that so long as she has the power to do so, she will seek to expand her control over the Mist Valley and that she will not be doing so for the sake of the Gishki”

Eria and Emilia exchanged a look as they listened to their friend, stunned into silence. Natalia was usually very quiet whenever the three met up, simply choosing to sit and watch them talking with a constant smile, and to hear her speak to strongly on a topic felt somewhat unnerving to the two. Eria could only blink slowly before turning back towards her.

“So…what do you think we need to do?”

“As much as it pains me to say this…we may need to consider removing her from power if things get any worse…”
…………………………………………………………………………
“I have lost them…”

Noellia raised a thin eyebrow as she looked over towards where the final of the three Gishki Shadows within her throne room slowly opened its eyes and spoke, its lidded eyes sliding slowly across the room as they adjusted to the lighting after being closed for the better part of the day. With a slight hiss the shrived creature rose a hand up towards the map that had been placed across the room’s main wall, its magic forming a small orb of black sludge that seeped into reality upon the fabric that bore the hand drawn map of the Forest that formed the mouth of the Mist Valley, marking where it had lost contact with its charge.

When its mark had been made, the Shadow slowly walked over towards where its two comrades stood and begun hissing and clicking in the language that only they really understood and Noellia turned her attention to the map.

Three sludgy marks now stained its surface, one from each of the Shadows that had been stood in her throne room in a trance like state for nearly the full day. They had been using the mental connection that all Shadows seem to have with one another to trace those of their order that had accompanied each of the three scouting forces she had ordered to advance into the Gusto forest. She had tracked the progress of each as they marched deeper into the void that was the forest and now three marks bore symbols to where each of the parties had been attacked and slaughtered by the defences and ambushes that the Gusto had waiting.

That had been the purpose of her effectively sending those men and women to their deaths at Gusto hands in such small parties, through their deaths Noellia, and the Gishki war effort as a whole, had learned a great deal what awaited for them within the trees. The Shadows had each offered words and whispers during their trances for what they had seen through the eyes of the Shadows that now lay dead at Gusto hands, whispers of men in hooded cloaks riding upon the backs of giant green birds and wildlife that was willing to rise up against them. Noellia had no idea how deep the Gusto’s bond with the forest around them ran, she simply couldn’t understand why people would place a bunch of trees above fellow intelligent life forms. It was so barbaric…

“My lady?”

Looking up from her thoughts, Noellia said nothing as she watched Avance enter the room and walk up towards her throne, his cloak wrapped tight around his body as he gave a respectful bow before moving to take his place beside her. There was a moment of silence as he took in the map, his eyes narrowing at the marks that had appeared since he had overseen it being hung up the morning before and Noellia continued to watch the three Shadows as they chatted amongst themselves before turning back to her most trusted bodyguard and lieutenant.

“It is as I thought Avance” She said blankly as she waved an arm towards the map “There are only three clear paths big enough to march an army into the forest and each of those bares a great distance between the other, yet the Gusto tribe have their homeland well defended. I sent a patrol into each of these three paths and all of them were slaughtered within the hour of entering the forest, each falling under attack within ten minutes of the other and each being wiped out before the shadows here could send us anything more than snatched bits of information. That means they have defences that are independent of each other and swift enough to destroy those they targeted before they were able to react”

“It is their home” Avance said simply, his piercing blue eyes scanning the map intently as he mentally ran across each of the three paths in turn “They have had an eternity to master the art of fighting within the dense tree lines whilst we are used to combat in open spaces or cities. For any forces that we send it will be like marching into an alien world. Put simply my lady, they will always have the advantage in the forest and would be quite capable of ambushing us at every turn”

Noellia simply grunted in reply as she only half listened to him, clicking her fingers and awaiting with an outstretched hand as a small creature that seemed to have been a mix between a dog and a fish crawled across the room upon its three working limbs and used its fin like tail to hand her a glass of wine. It hovered for a second to ensure that she wouldn’t demand something else of it before bolting from the room as fast as its beaten legs would allow it to when one of the Shadows licked its leathery lips with a hungry gaze in its direction.

“So” The leader of the Gishki said as she sipped from her wine and leaned back into her throne “What would you suggest we do about it?”

“My sister said that the forces you sent into the forest were slaughtered last night” Avance said with a confused frown, not replying to her question “I myself read it in the paper this morning…how could it be that the Shadows have only just now felt it and marked the map?”

“Oh that” Noellia swatted her hand at the air in a dismissive gesture as she took another sip of her wine “I announced the destruction of our patrols just after they left. There was no point in waiting for what we both knew was going to happen to happen when I could just get breaking the news over with. Besides…I think that the idea of the Gusto ambushes happening during the night instead of the day makes it so much more…dramatic. Wouldn’t you agree?”

“I see…” was all Avance said, his dislike of his mistress’ ploy clear upon his face. He felt the urge to question his mistress further, he wanted to know why the announced news had told of a peace convoy, not three military scouting groups and he wanted to know why she had felt that a ‘dramatic’ story was better than telling the truth to her people but pushed the thoughts back. He didn’t know much about politics nor did he want to, he would simply have to trust that she had known what she had been doing.

“Now” Noellia said, slipping a tone into her voice that bore a warning against him interrupting her again “What would you suggest that we do about getting past the Gusto defences? I believe that once we get to their core settlement in the centre of the forest then any possible conflict would be over quickly enough”

“Perhaps” Avance nodded before pointing towards various sections of the map in turn “We know that the Gusto have minor settlements built around the forest, using these both as a way of expanding their population as well as providing early warning to their core village should any danger present itself us the same way as we would use a watchtower or moat patrols”

“I know this” Noellia snapped in irritation “We cannot send our full force into the forest without one of those outposts detecting us and calling for those air born bird riders. With their home advantage, even our ritual monsters will be under threat from them”

“So why not go under them?”

For a time Noellia was silent as she stared at the younger boy, her thin eyes narrowing as she searched him for sarcasm before leaning back and gesturing for him to continue.

“Well” Avance started to speak as he tightened his cloak and began to walk towards where the map hung upon the wall, trying to ignore the eternally staring eyes of the Gishki Shadows “One of inner Gusto outposts is built around a large lake that stands about halfway between here and their main village. It’s still a big distance to travel between there and said village but the lake is on the far side of the ambush points”

His index figure pressed against a stretch of blue on the map that lay not far into the sea of green which formed the forest. Indeed the blue lay beyond where the Gishki patrols had been intercepted and deep enough into the forest that the Gusto most likely would not consider it to be endangered. Behind him, Noellia was silent for moment before giving a click of her tongue in irritation.

“What good does that do?”

“I have heard tales” Avance said simply as he turned back towards her “Tales of an old cave network that originate from the white cliffs a deep into the depths of the ground. It is from these underground routs that water spreads around the forest but, in the days of old, these caves were also used by smugglers and messengers between our tribes. It is possible that a group of soldiers could use these networks to by-pass the Gusto defences and…clear the way for our main force to march past the outposts uninterrupted.

“And you think that we could use this cave to get our forces into the forest undetected?”

“It is a possibility”

“Well then” She announced as she stood back up and began to walk around her throne towards the door at the rear of the room, the door that lead to her private quarters, as if Avance’s words had brought the conversation to an end. She pushed the door open and didn’t so much as look back as she called over her shoulder with a sway of her hand “It would appear you have a mission to attend to”


Next chapter will have a flashback to the charmers when they were younger and will include a cameo from so other “cards” that are not connected to either Gusto or Gishki so that should be fun to write for a change. I will also be giving some background info on the world of the mist valley as a whole