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"Amusement"
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Artist: Chibi DragonEmail: acates@unitedwestern.net Website: --
Character's Story: First of all, a little background: Laythie was raised by a human father and mother who found her lost and alone as a small child whith no memory of her past. The only item she had with her, other than the clothes on her back, was a glass sphere a bit smaller than a basketball. It was completely clear, the only ornamentation on it being a ring of metal enscribed with runes that ran along the outside. This little sphere had a magical ability: whenever she asked it where something was, it would show her. As she grew older she was able to research where the runes came from, but found no matching symbols in any language she cross-referenced. Whenever she asked the sphere where she could find someone to interpret for her, it showed her a gigantic library that looked like it was pulled directly from the pages of a fantasy novel. It was confirmed by further studies that this place was indeed fantasy, for nothing like it existed anywhere in the world. She was very intelligent even though she didn't go to school. She tried attending before, but she suffered too much abuse at the hands of her would-be classmates, so she took the initiative to learn from her home. Life was fairly normal, or at least as normal as life can be when you're an angel/demon thing living with humans. However, at dusk on her 16th birthday, Laythie's life took an unexpected turn. She was outside stargazing when she noticed it: wherever the moonlight hit her tail and horn, runes just like the ones on her sphere appeared. Even more shocking, however, was the fact that she was no longer on Earth: her sphere had pulled her into Syllumina, more specifically into the Syllumina library. There, she met a little dwarf, Eddie, who claimed he would be able to interpret it for her, but only if she would pay a little visit to his brother to calm some of her violent tendencies.. Laythie walked slowly down the hallway, grumbling to herself. She looked down at her feet and tried to concentrate on the delicate ripples and folds of her silken slippers in a pathetic attempt to distract herself from her fate. "How did I ever let myself get tricked into this?" With a deep sigh, she stopped walking and turned to face a door. The words "Psychiatry for Magical Creatures" were scrolled onto the window. Closing her eyes, she raised her arm to touch the doorknob, wincing when her skin came in contact with the cold metal. This was it. It was now or never. She held her breath and twisted the infernal thing, then gave a slight push. CREEAAAK. The door swung open, revealing a room full of a wide range of creatures sitting in a circle. "Hello Laythie, welcome to our group of friends." Recited the creatures in unison. Laythie's eye began to twitch and she had to use every fibre of her angelic half to keep herself from attacking them. "Come, friend Laythie friend, join the group. We have a chair for you right over here." Said a high-pitched voice. "Erm...who said that?" asked Laythie, looking around. "Down here, friend Laythie friend." Laythie turned her gaze downwards and saw a small dwarf with a long, red beard and equally red cheeks. He looked just like his brother, Eddie, the researcher whose fault it was that she was here in the first place. She gave him her best death-glare, but he just ignored her and continued, "My name is Freddie, friend Laythie friend, and I am very happy to meet you." He turned on his heel and walked over to two empty chairs positioned right next to each other. The rubber of his shoes rubbing against the wood sounded shockingly similar to his voice. Laythie followed him solomnly, feeling more than a tad peeved. She knew this would totally suck, but never in her wildest dreams did she imagine that it would be this terrible. 'I mean really, it's bad enough that they have to attach that vile word to my name, but why do they have to defile it twice?' She thought. "Well, friend Laythie friend..." "Could you just call me Laythie?" Every one in the room gasped, and one of the younger-looking dragons actually fainted. "We do not speak when others are speaking, friend Laythie friend. Now, stand up in the middle of the room and apologize." Was it just her, or did the dwarf's eyes seem beadier than usual? Oh, how she wished she could pound him with her tail. 'Just once, that's all it would take Laythie.' Taunted the demonic half of her mind. 'No, you must forgive him.He is just trying to be a good counselor.' Retaliated the angelic side. "Will you just shut up?!" The command was directed to the voices in her head, but since she was the only one able to hear them the rest of the creatures thought she was talking to the dwarf. The room fell into a shocked silence: Laythie and the little psychiatrist were the only ones still breathing. "I wasn't talking to you, dwarf-boy, I was addressing the voices in my head." The sound of wood against wood filled the room as several creatures scooted their chairs away from her. "You hear them too? Ha! I'm not crazy! See mom, I'm not the only one!" announced a little elf to his now blushing mother. Laythie clenched her fists: she was now on her last nerve. "I'm freaking sorry!" She yelled, then walked stiffly back to her chair, being careful to avoid stepping on the unconscious dragon who now lay on the floor. "Laythie, that was not a real apology. Go back and do it again, but mean it this time." She smirked for a moment, noticing that the dwarf forgot to add the "friend"s to her name, but the satisfaction was fleeting. 'That dwarf would die right now if I didn't need his brother to interpret for me.' She steamed inwardly. All eyes were still on her, some glaring with malice and some softened with pity. "I'm sorry." Her voice was coated with false sweetness. 'That I have to be here.' She completed to herself. The session went on in much the same manner, Laythie getting more and more annoyed, the creatures growing more and more angry, the dwarf getting more and more irksome. The only thing that got her through the day was one singular thought: 'When I go back to see Eddie, my past will finally be revealed.' *~-*~-*Later that day*~-*~-* "Eddie! Come out Eddie! You can't hide forever! I went to see your stupid brother, just like I promised, now you have to fulfill your end of the deal!" She could understand why the little guy was so afraid of her, but it was his fault he got smacked. Ahhh, she remembered that day so well.... ******Cue Cheesy Flashback music******* "What in the world is going on? Omigosh...the library my sphere showed me...this it it! Omigosh omigosh omigosh! This can't be happening. Maybe the sphere knows what's going on. Hey, hold on a minute, where is it?" Horror pulsed through her as she desperately felt for her treasure, but it just wasn't on her. She searched the ground around her for about ten minutes before she plopped down in defeat. She sat there for a moment, losing herself in pity, then lowered her back to the ground to gaze at the stars. Laythie's jaw dropped at the sight: her orb was floating in the air about 50 feet from the ground. "There you are! Now, if I were only 45 feet taller, I just might be able to reach you. Stupid sphere, always making trouble for me. Maybe if I get a really long rope, I could lasso you down..." "No need, miss. Jeck Spinel at your service." Laythie didn't have much time to take him in, for shortly after the brief introduction the tall, handsome man turned, ran toward the sphere, jumped all the way up to where it was, grabbed it, and landed. "How did you do that?" Laythie gasped as the blonde came over to give her the orb. "Easy, ma'am. I'm an elf. See?" He brushed back some of his long, flowing hair to reveal two pointed ears. "So, what's your name?" "Laythie." "Laythie, eh? So, Laythie, what kind o' creature are you, anyhow?" "I'm an angel demon mix, I think." "You think? Doncha know?" "Well, I grew up on Earth, and they're all human there. Speaking of, where am I, exactly?" It was odd, but she almost felt as though she belonged here. "This here's the Syllumina Library. Finer lot o' scholars y'won't find in all t'land." Laythie picked up her sphere and gazed into it, brows furrowing in concentration. "Sphere, show me how to find the person who can read the runes." It was Jeck's turn to be astonished: wisps of smoke began to swirl around the inside of the orb, joining together and gathering speed. Suddenly the swirling smoke disappeared and the image of a small, red-headed dwarf standing on a pile of books took its place. "What t' heck kind o' trinket is that?" He inquired, a look of extreme surprise on his face as well as in his voice. "Hm? Oh, this. I don't know what it is, exactly, but it's been with me since before I can remember. Whenever I ask it where something is, it does what you just saw it do. It's really very handy. You can find everything with it, from the secrets of your past to the remote control. Nifty, huh?" "Remote whatsit?" "Remote control. It's a term for an item that obviously doesn't exist here." "Oh. That's nice. Anyway, that little dwarf you saw in your thingy: I know 'im quite well. I could take ya 'ter where he is, no problems. Are ya comin'?" "Yes, and thank you very much." Laythie got up from the ground and followed the stranger into the immense building. The outside was impressive to be certain, but it was the inside that really caught her interest. The floor was covered in marble tiles of dark green, purple and blue. Tall columns stood everywhere, raising to the ceiling to support the roof. These colums were the colors of the midnight sky and each had constantly moving constellations painted on them, the dots glowing like a real stars. Tall bookshelves bordered the walls and stood in neat rows among the colums, filled with every book one could imagine, and even some one couldn't. She grew more and more exited with each new row of shelves she spotted, imagining herself spending years here reading them all. She desperately wished that Jeck would slow down, but he did not, and she supposed it was all the better that way; after all, they did have business to attend to. "Well, this is where I stop. Eddie's right up there." "Aren't you going to introduce us?" "I would, but he's workin' right now, and when ye interrupt 'im while he's workin', he gets right scary. No, you don' want ter mess with the library folk when they're busy." "So you're just going to leave me here to do it? Are you man or mouse?" "Neither ma'am, I told you earlier, I'm an elf." Jeck was just a moment too late to duck the swipe at his head, was thrown across the room, slammed against a pillar, and landed, unconscious. "I must be having an off day. Normally he would have gone through the pillar. Oh, well." She wiped her hands against each other and turned toward the dwarf. It was just a hunch, but she suspected that she was much scarier than he could ever be. "Excuse me, Mr. Eddie? Mr. Eddie?" She paused briefly to clear her throat. Still no response. "Mr Eddie! Listen to me!" "Huh? What? Who are you? You know, whoever you are, I'm doing some very important work. Go away." He said, without so much as looking up. "Well, could you make an exception, just this once? I really need some help here." That famous fake sweetness was creeping back into her voice. "Oh, you're still here? I thought I told you to leave." That was it. Rudeness, especially from someone only about three feet tall, simply could not be tolerated. She spun around, whacking him with her tail, and the little researcher went flying. From her calculations, he was probably going about seventy miles per hour by the time he hit that wall. *-~*-~*Cue Cheesy Back to the Present Music*-~*-~* "O.K. Eddie, it's time to come out. If you show yourself now, I promise not to hurt you." With a wimper, he scuttled out from behind a rather tall pile of texts. "Come here and let me get a look at that sphere." You could tell that was the farthest thing from what he wanted to do. "Here." She said, then handed him the little globe. "Hmmmmmmm..it's been quite a while since I've come across this particular language, but I still should be able to read it." His brows furrowed and his nose wrinkled quite peculiarly as he concentrated on the translation. "If I'm correct, it says something like 'Child of darkness, born in the light, I give you this orb to aid you in plight. It will give you an answer, but be not decieved, for before you are through, there are two more things you need. Ask and the answer, shall not be revealed, but be not in despair, the sun shall show what was concealed.' That's all it says." Laythie stood for a moment, taking it all in. Who could it have been that left her the orb? What were the things that she needed to find? This was all very odd. "Well, the sun's about to set. Come on Eddie, we're going outside to read the rest of these." "Tsk. Not even a thank-you. Kids these days...tsk tsk." "I'm not thanking you until you read everything. Now hurry up." "It's not easy keeping up when you're short." Eddie mused to himself. They walked the rest of the distance in silence, Laythie forgetting all about the books for favor of more important matters. By the time they had crossed the great library and stepped outside, the moon had risen above the horizon and the stars began to shine. There was a blining flash and then utter darkness, broken only by the luminosity of Laythie's tail and horn. "I don't believe I've ever seen anything like it. Incredible. Hey, you know, I just realized something: if these runes really are the secrets of your past, then your 'tale' will be written on your 'tail'! How's that for ironic?" "Will you just hurry up and read already?" "O.K, O.K, hmmmmmm..." His face made the same expression that it had before, but it looked different due to the lighting; the way the wrinkled face glowed in some places but was dismally dark in others was almost frightening. "This isn't making any sense. Maybe it starts on that horn of yours. Could you stoop down for me, please?" Laythie obeyed immediately. "No, no, this isn't right either. Just a bunch of jargen." He announced after a few moments. "What do you mean a bunch of jargen?! Just tell me what it says." "It talks a lot about someone named 'Raylak', but I don't understand it." "By 'I don't understand it' do you mean that you can't read it?" "Well, no, but.." "If you can read it, just tell me what it says and I'll decide wether or not it makes any sense." "Fine, if you're going to be like that. It says 'but Raylak was not pleased with her surroundings, and for her child she wanted better, so she sent her to Earth to live in peace with her sister and brother-in-law. She kept Shirok by her side so that she would not be completely alone. Her powers were weak, however, so the child's memory was erased and all of these events forgotten.' I suppose it makes perfect sense to you, Ms. Genius." "Do you want to get smacked, shortie? No? I thought not." She paused to reflect on all that she had seen and heard in the last few moments, and came to a few conclusions shortly afterwards. "Well, that child was obviously me, so Raylak was most likely my real mother's name. Somehow when dear mother sent me to Earth, she also managed to erase all memory of whatever life I had before. Lovely. I guess my human parents were actually related to her; that's odd. Maybe the two people that I ended up with weren't the ones mom thought would find me. I think it turned out pretty well so far, though. Maybe she's the one that gave me this sphere, you know, so that I could come back to find her someday? It could happen. I wonder who that 'Shirok' thingy was. Maybe it and mommy are still alive. I suppose looking for them would be a start, anyway. I'll ask my sphere." Following the same procedure she did before, she asked it, "Where can I find my real mother?" She waited, but nothing happened. "Hello, are you broken or something? I asked 'where can I find my real mother'?" Again there was no response. "O.K. then, where can I find Shirok?" Nothing. She seriously considered breaking it, but decided against it. "Maybe I should try a question that I already know the answer to, just to make sure it works. Sphere, where can I find my shoes?" This time, the sphere reacted. When it was done with the smoke routine, it showed a picture of her feet. "Well, it's still functional anyway. Hmmmmmmm, do you suppose those two things, Shirok and Raylak, are the things I need to find according to the riddle on the sphere?" "It seems rather obvious." "Shut up." She tapped him on the head with the non-spiked side of her tail. "It said that the sphere wouldn't show me the answer, so those have to be the things I need to find. It said 'the sun shall show what was concealed', so I guess that means it's something that can only be found during the day." She concentrated, trying to think of something that could only be seen by sunlight. "I've got it! You know how the runes on my body only appear by moonlight? I'll bet the thing named Shirok has runes on it that are only revealed by the sun!" "Brilliant deduction." "You could at least try to hide that sarcasm. Thank-you, dwarf-boy, I appreciate it. Say, this quest might take a while, so do you have some supplies here that I could use?" "Well, I suppose I could lend you a tent and give you some food and water, but we don't have any weapons here. Not that you would need them." Laythie smirked: hey, it was true after all. "Oh, and you can borrow Jeck, too." "Why would I want to borrow him?" "To get him out of our hair." "I see. Well, I suppose if worse comes to worse I can always eat him." "That's what I like about you, Laythie, you're such a pleasant person to be around and your loyalty knows no bounds." "I know, but no need for the excess flattery: I get enough of that." "Of course, I should have known." "Yes, you should have." *-~*-~*Prologue*-~*-~* Laythie and Jeck had many adventures on their journey to discover the secrets to her past, and eventually romance bloomed between them. When they finally found Shirok, they discovered that it was a female white tiger created by her mother to be the companion of both Laythie and herself. Her mother died shortly after she put Laythie on planet Earth due to a broken heart. Her mother, she learned, was an angel kidnapped by a demon who forced her to marry him. She didn't love him, but had no choice but to bear his child, that child being Laythie. After she found Shirok, she married Jeck and they lived happily ever after. THE END
Comments: This was my first time shading with gradients, so I went a bit overboard ^_^;;; I really like this image though, and I hope you like it too. The story was really fun to write but still very challenging. I wanted it to have a generally crazy feel to it, but at the same time have more serious overtones. Enjoy! |
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