Zotar
12-20-2008, 06:44 PM
The land was the same now as it had been then. The trees provided hiding places for the creatures of the night, shelter that was never enough. The moonlight cast the forests in pale light but made the shadows and the abstract shapes of reaching trees seem look threatening to any naive eyes. The mood of the night was always so, always soothing and intimidating at the same time. The red raven called Xujorzan, was at home in the night.
The living things below could not hide from him. He knew about every wary mind, every fearful glance toward the heavens he inhabited. He knew the animals' instictual awarness of a predator. But he was not hungry tonight. As much as he liked listening to the fear, he found it unsettleing that he was the only creature for miles that felt no fear. Pityingly, Xujorzan stretched his senses across the mirage-like stretch of forest and touched every sentient mind. He sang them a silent lullaby. The minds of the creatures of night relaxed. One owl even dared to hoot, as did one wolf dare to howl.
Other creatures began to let their down their instictual gaurd and ambled about gathering food or hunting others. This is the kind of night Xujorzan preferred. It felt more natural than fearful silence. He drifted thoughtfully across the starry sky on his crimson wings. He wondered if there were any of his kind about tonight. He didn't feel any. That may have been because any who could sense him would not allow him to sense them. After all, Xujorzan was an infant by vampire standards. Many he had met were hundreds of years old.
He let his coinciousness drift across the night, soothing all creatures subliminally while keeping his thoughts shielded. He caught gleens of thought from all lesser creatures he touched, merely instictual needs. One shrew was occupied by a search for seeds, one coyote was occupied with thoughts of fresh shrew. Xujorzan's connection to the shrew was severed as the witty coyote appropriated a morsle to eat.
Ahhh nature, Xujorzan thought.
At that moment he saw (with his eyes) a small cabin almost hidden benieth the canopy of the trees. There was no road up to it. Only a trail to be walked. Xujorzan's bird's eyes showed him a town 3 miles ahead were the trail would lead. Flying high over the cabin, he saw someone looking up at him.
This startled him, as he had not detected any human or vampire presence. He quickly shielded his thoughts but the moment he did so, another coinsciousness attacked. In the blink of an eye, all of Xujorzan's motorskills shut down as the Other's mind invaded with alarming strength and cunning. Xujorzan fell. His wings would not flap. His beak could not open to utter a raven's exclaimation. Xujorzan's mental defenses had been swept aside like dust from library shelfs. He could not help but feel fear. he felt something else as well. It was like mind-to-mind mockery.
A single word entered his mind as he lost controll of it, Pathetic.
Xujorzan hit something, but it was not the ground. What had looked like a cabin, had not been a cabin. Xujorzan rolled off the shingled cone roof of a tower. Suddenly in "humanish" form, he tried to reach for the edge as he tumbled, but all his body was limp.
He fell. The fall would be fifty feet. In the seconds he had left, Xujorzan struggled to regain his mind and body. The coinciousness that had invaded his brain was abruptly gone.
Quick as a flash, Xujorzan extended his wings and pulled out of the fall... and Xujorzan was sure his eyes were deceiving him. There was no tower he had just fallen from. There was no cabin that he had seen before... only trees. But he was sure something had just happened... for in his mind he registered laughter. Someone was laughing at him.
But then all was silent.
Xujorzan transformed back into a crimson raven and flew back the way he came. He greatly feared this power, whatever it was. For it was not only strong, cunning and otherworldly, it was spiteful, threatening and playful. He had not regained controll of his mind and body. It was given back to him.
Xujorzan flew on. Shielding his thoughts to all. Wondering who and what had just happened. And why? He checked his wrist watch and looked to the East. 5:45. The sun would rise soon. Xujorzan found a cave where he had dwelt once before. He became humanish again and walked into its depths, to find a dark place to rest untill the next night, when he would investigate the area the cabin had been in.
He had trouble sleeping.
The living things below could not hide from him. He knew about every wary mind, every fearful glance toward the heavens he inhabited. He knew the animals' instictual awarness of a predator. But he was not hungry tonight. As much as he liked listening to the fear, he found it unsettleing that he was the only creature for miles that felt no fear. Pityingly, Xujorzan stretched his senses across the mirage-like stretch of forest and touched every sentient mind. He sang them a silent lullaby. The minds of the creatures of night relaxed. One owl even dared to hoot, as did one wolf dare to howl.
Other creatures began to let their down their instictual gaurd and ambled about gathering food or hunting others. This is the kind of night Xujorzan preferred. It felt more natural than fearful silence. He drifted thoughtfully across the starry sky on his crimson wings. He wondered if there were any of his kind about tonight. He didn't feel any. That may have been because any who could sense him would not allow him to sense them. After all, Xujorzan was an infant by vampire standards. Many he had met were hundreds of years old.
He let his coinciousness drift across the night, soothing all creatures subliminally while keeping his thoughts shielded. He caught gleens of thought from all lesser creatures he touched, merely instictual needs. One shrew was occupied by a search for seeds, one coyote was occupied with thoughts of fresh shrew. Xujorzan's connection to the shrew was severed as the witty coyote appropriated a morsle to eat.
Ahhh nature, Xujorzan thought.
At that moment he saw (with his eyes) a small cabin almost hidden benieth the canopy of the trees. There was no road up to it. Only a trail to be walked. Xujorzan's bird's eyes showed him a town 3 miles ahead were the trail would lead. Flying high over the cabin, he saw someone looking up at him.
This startled him, as he had not detected any human or vampire presence. He quickly shielded his thoughts but the moment he did so, another coinsciousness attacked. In the blink of an eye, all of Xujorzan's motorskills shut down as the Other's mind invaded with alarming strength and cunning. Xujorzan fell. His wings would not flap. His beak could not open to utter a raven's exclaimation. Xujorzan's mental defenses had been swept aside like dust from library shelfs. He could not help but feel fear. he felt something else as well. It was like mind-to-mind mockery.
A single word entered his mind as he lost controll of it, Pathetic.
Xujorzan hit something, but it was not the ground. What had looked like a cabin, had not been a cabin. Xujorzan rolled off the shingled cone roof of a tower. Suddenly in "humanish" form, he tried to reach for the edge as he tumbled, but all his body was limp.
He fell. The fall would be fifty feet. In the seconds he had left, Xujorzan struggled to regain his mind and body. The coinciousness that had invaded his brain was abruptly gone.
Quick as a flash, Xujorzan extended his wings and pulled out of the fall... and Xujorzan was sure his eyes were deceiving him. There was no tower he had just fallen from. There was no cabin that he had seen before... only trees. But he was sure something had just happened... for in his mind he registered laughter. Someone was laughing at him.
But then all was silent.
Xujorzan transformed back into a crimson raven and flew back the way he came. He greatly feared this power, whatever it was. For it was not only strong, cunning and otherworldly, it was spiteful, threatening and playful. He had not regained controll of his mind and body. It was given back to him.
Xujorzan flew on. Shielding his thoughts to all. Wondering who and what had just happened. And why? He checked his wrist watch and looked to the East. 5:45. The sun would rise soon. Xujorzan found a cave where he had dwelt once before. He became humanish again and walked into its depths, to find a dark place to rest untill the next night, when he would investigate the area the cabin had been in.
He had trouble sleeping.