My first experience of Metamoor involved water.
Lots of water. Deep water.
Neither Cornelia nor I had expected that the portal would have us emerge beneath water and Vathek hadn't suggested we should hold our breath. Was that an oversight or was he leading us into a trap the whole time.
Still, it was a learning experience. For example, I learned that I can't breathe water. Also, Cornelia's no better at swimming than I am and water has it's own ideas about where you wind up. Who knew that it moved!? Even without Irma around.
Okay, I noticed this mostly in retrospect. At the time I was mostly flailing widely and worrying about the fiery sensation in my chest.
I think I may have blacked out. I don't remember doing so, but I don't recall anything between that and being cold and wet on a stone floor, someone holding my nose and blowing into my mouth.
I'm pretty sure that Will had told me to slap anyone who kissed me, but moving my arms right now would have been way too much work. "Wurble," I managed when my lips weren't being molested.
"She's alive!"
Oh. Well that was good. I managed to open my eyes and saw an unfamiliar boy, a little older than I perhaps, moving back from me. A moment later I had a soggy blonde hugging me. It wasn't quite as good as Mom, but it wasn't anything to be upset about. "'nelia."
"Don't you start," Cornelia demanded, laughing in relief. "Irma's nicknames are bad enough." She looked up at the boy. "Caleb gave you CPR and saved your life."
"CPR? Wussat?" I mumbled. My throat still burned.
She sighed. "You'd stopped breathing. He was breathing for you until you started again."
That sounded like powerful magic to me! "That isn't like kissing, is it?"
"No!" Cornelia dragged her eyes away from gazing worshipfully up at Caleb. "It's... nothing like that."
So I don't have to slap him then," I concluded.
There was a chuckle and Vathek moved into view. "That must be a relief, Caleb." He reached down and helped Cornelia and I up to our feet, then steadied me as I checked to see if my legs were working better than my arms had been a moment ago. (They were, but not by all that much). "I lost you somewhere along the way. Fortunately Caleb saw you in the water and got the two of you out."
"But who are they?" a new voice enquired.
Looking around I realised that the chamber we were in - a tall room with beautifully painted columns that reminded me of Van Dahl's cathedral - was also occupied by a number of green-skinned creatures dressed not unlike the medieval peasants I had seen in books.
"They aren't like us, they can't stay here."
Another squinted suspiciously at Cornelia. "And she's ugly!"
"Hey!" the blonde snarled. "Have you looked in the mirror!?"
Caleb gestured for calm. "Settle down all of you." He put one arm around Cornelia's back. "I know that they can be trusted." He wasn't looking at me at all, mind you. Maybe it was just me but I got the impression that I was pretty much vanishing into the background compared to my glamorous friend. Well, that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
My musing over whatever was going on with the two was disrupted - as were what they probably thought were covert looks at each other (I was two weeks old, not blind) - by a shout of alarm.
"We've been spotted!" one of the green-skinned people exclaimed, running into the the room. "Soldiers are outside."
"I knew it!" the suspicious one growled. He'd turned his attention away from Cornelia towards a safer target. "You must have brought them here," he accused me. Or possibly Vathek, it was hard to be sure the way his hand was wavering.
"Is this the end?" one of his companions asked nervously.
If it wasn't for one thing, my impression of these rebels would have dropped into the sewer. That thing was Caleb. The boy only raised his voice slightly but when he spoke it was with unquestionable authority. "Vathek, take one group with you. The others will come with me."
The towering blue man nodded respectfully. "Right." He looked down at me. "Can you run."
"I'd better, hadn't I?"
Instead he simply hauled me up off the ground and perched me on one shoulder. "What you'd better do is hang on."
Fortunately one of the scaly patches on his head was well placed for me to put my hand onto without incidentally poking his eye out or the like.
It wasn't until we were out of the room - part of a large, palatial complex I discovered to my surprise - that I realised that Cornelia wasn't with us. Craning my head around I could see a enormously long blonde hair next to Caleb's long overcoat near the head of the other group of rebels.
I said a word that I don't think Will knew I'd learned. I'm almost certain she'd be unhappy about my using it. I'm quite certain that Mom would be.
"Is something wrong?" asked Vathek.
"Nothing I can do anything about."
As best I could tell, we were racing to get out of the complex of buildings before the soldiers could get to all of the exits. What I couldn't tell was whether or not we were winning. From the shouting somewhere behind us I had the suspicion that not everyone was that lucky. I hoped Cornelia wasn't one of them.
Then I envisaged a bunch of guards - like Captain Von Schliese's except with scaly skin - trying to restrain a Cornelia who was fully empowered and angry to boot.
Hopefully no one with Cornelia would get caught up in the destruction.
I was just thinking that when Vathek stumbled. He wasn't the only one. The floor of the palace was shaking beneath us.
"Get out in the open!" I shouted as loudly as I could. I pulled on Vathek's head to direct him towards what looked like some sort of a park. If one or more of those buildings came down I wanted to be somewhere with plenty of room to run away from it. Well, for Vathek to run away, since if I couldn't rely on my legs when the ground was steady I certainly couldn't now.
There was a massive rumbling noise and I felt rather than saw part of the palace begin to collapse since Vathek dropped to his knees. That still left me above head height of most of the rebels and I twisted around to spot which it was.
The good news was that the building was going more or less straight down. The bad news was that it was the core of the entire palace. Dust was already rising like smoke from it. "Get down and cover your heads!" I called out and scrambled down from Vathek.
The big man didn't hesitate to drag me under the cover of his coat as the dust cloud swept across us. Given I was choking on it even through Vathek's coat, I can't imagine what it must have been like for everyone else.
As soon as the rumbling died down I started scrambling out from under my protector.
"Are you..." Vathek broke off coughing. "Are you hurt?"
I hawked up and spat dust out of my mouth. Hopefully Elyon's spell wouldn't make the dust part of me. "No but we need to get going. With all this dust the soldiers won't be able to see us."
His mismatched eyebrows... well, he didn't really have any, but that bit of his forehead moved upwards. I could tell by the scales above his right eye. "You're right. Everyone up! We've still got a way to go."
D for Drakensis
You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.
Lots of water. Deep water.
Neither Cornelia nor I had expected that the portal would have us emerge beneath water and Vathek hadn't suggested we should hold our breath. Was that an oversight or was he leading us into a trap the whole time.
Still, it was a learning experience. For example, I learned that I can't breathe water. Also, Cornelia's no better at swimming than I am and water has it's own ideas about where you wind up. Who knew that it moved!? Even without Irma around.
Okay, I noticed this mostly in retrospect. At the time I was mostly flailing widely and worrying about the fiery sensation in my chest.
I think I may have blacked out. I don't remember doing so, but I don't recall anything between that and being cold and wet on a stone floor, someone holding my nose and blowing into my mouth.
I'm pretty sure that Will had told me to slap anyone who kissed me, but moving my arms right now would have been way too much work. "Wurble," I managed when my lips weren't being molested.
"She's alive!"
Oh. Well that was good. I managed to open my eyes and saw an unfamiliar boy, a little older than I perhaps, moving back from me. A moment later I had a soggy blonde hugging me. It wasn't quite as good as Mom, but it wasn't anything to be upset about. "'nelia."
"Don't you start," Cornelia demanded, laughing in relief. "Irma's nicknames are bad enough." She looked up at the boy. "Caleb gave you CPR and saved your life."
"CPR? Wussat?" I mumbled. My throat still burned.
She sighed. "You'd stopped breathing. He was breathing for you until you started again."
That sounded like powerful magic to me! "That isn't like kissing, is it?"
"No!" Cornelia dragged her eyes away from gazing worshipfully up at Caleb. "It's... nothing like that."
So I don't have to slap him then," I concluded.
There was a chuckle and Vathek moved into view. "That must be a relief, Caleb." He reached down and helped Cornelia and I up to our feet, then steadied me as I checked to see if my legs were working better than my arms had been a moment ago. (They were, but not by all that much). "I lost you somewhere along the way. Fortunately Caleb saw you in the water and got the two of you out."
"But who are they?" a new voice enquired.
Looking around I realised that the chamber we were in - a tall room with beautifully painted columns that reminded me of Van Dahl's cathedral - was also occupied by a number of green-skinned creatures dressed not unlike the medieval peasants I had seen in books.
"They aren't like us, they can't stay here."
Another squinted suspiciously at Cornelia. "And she's ugly!"
"Hey!" the blonde snarled. "Have you looked in the mirror!?"
Caleb gestured for calm. "Settle down all of you." He put one arm around Cornelia's back. "I know that they can be trusted." He wasn't looking at me at all, mind you. Maybe it was just me but I got the impression that I was pretty much vanishing into the background compared to my glamorous friend. Well, that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
My musing over whatever was going on with the two was disrupted - as were what they probably thought were covert looks at each other (I was two weeks old, not blind) - by a shout of alarm.
"We've been spotted!" one of the green-skinned people exclaimed, running into the the room. "Soldiers are outside."
"I knew it!" the suspicious one growled. He'd turned his attention away from Cornelia towards a safer target. "You must have brought them here," he accused me. Or possibly Vathek, it was hard to be sure the way his hand was wavering.
"Is this the end?" one of his companions asked nervously.
If it wasn't for one thing, my impression of these rebels would have dropped into the sewer. That thing was Caleb. The boy only raised his voice slightly but when he spoke it was with unquestionable authority. "Vathek, take one group with you. The others will come with me."
The towering blue man nodded respectfully. "Right." He looked down at me. "Can you run."
"I'd better, hadn't I?"
Instead he simply hauled me up off the ground and perched me on one shoulder. "What you'd better do is hang on."
Fortunately one of the scaly patches on his head was well placed for me to put my hand onto without incidentally poking his eye out or the like.
It wasn't until we were out of the room - part of a large, palatial complex I discovered to my surprise - that I realised that Cornelia wasn't with us. Craning my head around I could see a enormously long blonde hair next to Caleb's long overcoat near the head of the other group of rebels.
I said a word that I don't think Will knew I'd learned. I'm almost certain she'd be unhappy about my using it. I'm quite certain that Mom would be.
"Is something wrong?" asked Vathek.
"Nothing I can do anything about."
As best I could tell, we were racing to get out of the complex of buildings before the soldiers could get to all of the exits. What I couldn't tell was whether or not we were winning. From the shouting somewhere behind us I had the suspicion that not everyone was that lucky. I hoped Cornelia wasn't one of them.
Then I envisaged a bunch of guards - like Captain Von Schliese's except with scaly skin - trying to restrain a Cornelia who was fully empowered and angry to boot.
Hopefully no one with Cornelia would get caught up in the destruction.
I was just thinking that when Vathek stumbled. He wasn't the only one. The floor of the palace was shaking beneath us.
"Get out in the open!" I shouted as loudly as I could. I pulled on Vathek's head to direct him towards what looked like some sort of a park. If one or more of those buildings came down I wanted to be somewhere with plenty of room to run away from it. Well, for Vathek to run away, since if I couldn't rely on my legs when the ground was steady I certainly couldn't now.
There was a massive rumbling noise and I felt rather than saw part of the palace begin to collapse since Vathek dropped to his knees. That still left me above head height of most of the rebels and I twisted around to spot which it was.
The good news was that the building was going more or less straight down. The bad news was that it was the core of the entire palace. Dust was already rising like smoke from it. "Get down and cover your heads!" I called out and scrambled down from Vathek.
The big man didn't hesitate to drag me under the cover of his coat as the dust cloud swept across us. Given I was choking on it even through Vathek's coat, I can't imagine what it must have been like for everyone else.
As soon as the rumbling died down I started scrambling out from under my protector.
"Are you..." Vathek broke off coughing. "Are you hurt?"
I hawked up and spat dust out of my mouth. Hopefully Elyon's spell wouldn't make the dust part of me. "No but we need to get going. With all this dust the soldiers won't be able to see us."
His mismatched eyebrows... well, he didn't really have any, but that bit of his forehead moved upwards. I could tell by the scales above his right eye. "You're right. Everyone up! We've still got a way to go."
D for Drakensis
You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.