- Joined
- Jan 1, 2009
- Messages
- 19,403
- Reputation score
- 442
Chapter 0: It Began with a Letter
(Inspirational Music -
You must be registered to see the links
)Many adventures begin in amazing and often tragic ways. It is human nature to find stability and somewhere safe to call ones home, their own sanctuary. Those that are typically on their adventure have departed the place they call sanctuary for a very unfortunate reason. However, for one girl, the reason was a very good one. It's not a tale that would enamor bored children before bedtime with stories of battle, honor, and the spoils of victory. It's instead a rather soothing tale of one girl with a certain desire to 'know'. To learn, and to chart the legends, the races, the goods, and the evils of the world and everything in between. Her worship was towards a being known as Fate, and it truly was a neutral god in all respects, taking her soul and splitting fragments of it to both good and evil to give them the supernatural power to change the world. She worshiped this god and trusted that her judgement was correct, as all she desired was to learn.
Her name was Cynthia, the Crow Tengu. And this story began with a letter, written to a girl of kindred spirit known as Nanami. She knew, the girl had one. One of the pieces of the grand puzzle. She likely didn't even know it was there. Idle, waiting for its moment. Or maybe its moment would never come. Maybe her destiny, her Fate, was to live peacefully? Who knew. Cynthia intended to learn, however. And to this girl, she wrote her letter, to a girl who also wanted to learn.
Nanami. My name is Cynthia Fyre. I know this name will not be familiar to you, but I have learned much about you. I know what you seek, and it is also what I seek. I have already been given the aid of countless generations before me, while you are starting fresh in this brave new world. I want to help you, and teach you so that I may entrust you with my own pen and parchment to record your own eternal documents for generations after you to read for the eternity in which I will preserve them. I offer you the chance to peacefully create a grand ripple that will transcend your very own existence, and mine as well. Such that even in the afterlife, we will both watch as your written word impacts the lives of new and old. If you wish to accept my offer, hold this paper in your hands and simply walk forward. You will feel yourself overcome with a desire to proceed in a certain direction, and you will follow the direction this paper takes you. It will lead you to the library of a close friend of mine, who I hope shall become a friend of yours too. She is like us, thirsty for knowledge. But you must not be afraid. For both she and I are one of those whom humans fear. We are mamono, but we will not hurt you. In time, you will find that the world painted before your eyes was just a shade, and when you part that shade, there is a beautiful world for you to explore.
I look forward to meeting you one day.
~Cynthia Fyre,
May Fate guide us.
When Nanami held the paper in her hands, she had already found that the paper had been carrying her feet. She was walking while the words read themselves to her in her mind in a composed and quiet female voice. Before she knew it, she'd look up and see herself standing before a giant five story tall library built with red bricks. Clear windows that looked completely polished lined the library. Nanami could see inside that there were endless shelves with books inside, just from what she could see, she'd be able to count over a thousand titles standing together, with many odd pieces of furniture, spirals of silver wrapping around itself to reach up to five holders each with a crystal inserted, giving off a faint glow in the daylight, no doubt painting the library in a white glow during the night. The inside was lined with marble, something that most of the Library seemed made of, including the pillar foundations. The marble was of olive color, giving it a very earthly appearance. In addition, it was quite easy to focus on the marble and building especially, as the world around Nanami seemed coated in a thick fog. Twas as if there was some kind of barrier of nature that protected this place from all those except one who had the letter. It almost felt like she was isolated from the rest of the world, in this sanctuary.
Then, Nanami heard a voice. A mature woman's call coming to her from a location she had difficulty pin-pointing for a reason unknown to her. "A visitor? How unusual. I'd ask how you found this place, but... Let me guess, it 'began with a letter', right?" she giggled, before Nanami would just then notice that the doors to the library had opened, and on the three steps leading up to the doors that lead inside stood a
You must be registered to see the links
She was dressed in an elegant green gown and wore a hat with a cylindrical base and square top, not unlike the hat of a human university graduate. Just beneath the hat were a pair of thick horns going out from the sides of her head that curled upwards at the ends. And it wasn't on feet she stood, but hooves. "Do not be afraid of me, little one. I devour knowledge, not people. Being that you smell faintly of angels, I also assume you have no knowledge for me to eat. I'd turn away such a person if they weren't standing in front of my home holding such a curious little piece of parchment." she chuckled. "So, I assume that some meddlesome crow has sent you to me. I will mentor you, if you so desire, just to find out what your hidden purpose is. If you are not interested, then I'm afraid your journey ends here. You will appear back at your home, and if you are wise, you will not leave your home again."