Dawn lost her composure completely when the girl materialized in
front of them. She yelped and the sheer surprise brought her down
to her knees. Her entire body had been shaken by the dark blob, her
heart now thumping rapidly in her ears, but when she realized it
wasn't Umbra she stared inquisitively. Dawn put a hand over her
heart and caught her breath before quickly standing up and brushing
herself off, ready to go on the defense against the stranger. But
she noticed the ears and the tail and was taken aback, beginning to
actually consider the stranger's offer with a spark of hope and
wonder. We need more than a myth, she thought to herself,
looking over at Maxwell in his weakened state and tensely slipping
her hand into the girl's.
Maxwell had stumbled a bit but was able to stay up while keeping a
hold of Dawn's hand, looking a little weary.
the stranger sighed and looked up towards the sky, her eyes
narrowing a little bit before she looked at Dawn and Maxwell.
''he'll most likely have sensed me, so i'll take you somewhere
safer and the nature fantasy beast can keep you safe, just tell
them i sent you to they're side of the realm as an emergency and
they will understand'' she said, and once she knew they both were
holding hands while she held Dawn's hand, she did the same
disappearing trick she used when she took Mavis to her side of the
realm to help her.
Umbra perked up at the serge of dark energy and swiftly followed
after the trail, but had just missed his chance at catching them,
and soon landed and started letting out a string of enraged
swearing, utterly furious at how they escaped from him before he
could get to Jasper in time.
Dawn's muscles tightened as they were swallowed by the darkness,
but she reminded herself of the alternative and tried to keep an
optimistic perspective. She had been learning to do so more in the
recent times--usually Fallow was the more positive and encouraging
sibling, with Minnow being the sarcastic contrast and her own
attitude being a bit of a mature and reasonable approach. Living
without Fallow's brightness had been a difficult change, and to see
her back but with such lifelessness... Dawn pushed the thoughts to
the back of her mind and focused on the task at hand.
"What's your name?" She asked the stranger softly, a lilt of hope
in her voice as she wondered if the myth was true.
Xena listened to her question as she focused on getting them to her
realm first, and once there she grinned and gave them a peace sign
with her free hand.
''Xena the darkness fantasy beast, at your service~'' she said in a
singsong tone.
her part of the realm was heavily clouded and a thin yet thick
layer of a rich dark purple fog rolling past they're feet ankle
deep, withered looking tree's spotted along the plain still covered
thick with leaves among the branches colored from mostly black to a
dark range of purples and reds.
they had appeared just a couple feet away from a enormous ancient
looking tree split into the four fantasy attributes, the nexus
tree.
(i actually made up a little reference of the realm before posting
this)
Gemini would be losing it right now, Dawn thought to
herself, remembering how he had adamantly denied all of the
Fantasies myths during heated discussions in the mess hall. The
chilly fog that embraced her ankles was the first thing that Dawn
noticed, and her instincts immediately sparked with wariness in
response. She couldn't help it; even without her Fantasy abilities,
her subconscious was slightly unnerved by the dreary realm of
Darkness--she had grown up around many Darkness Fantasies, which
resulted in her being both comfortable around them and aware of the
potential havoc and nightmarish nature that they harbored.
She stared at Maxwell and wondered if he felt a sense of resonance
or belonging. Or, perhaps, a lack of such due to his hybrid-brought
conflicts.
Dawn scanned the tree that towered behind them, "Could you...
explain this place a little bit?" Her head snapped back to Xena,
even though she already knew the answer to her question. But the
stories could be exaggerated. It wouldn't hurt to ask.
Maxwell simply stayed quiet, lightly gripping Dawn's arm as he
glanced around out of being a little wary being in the darkness
realm.
Xena gave a gentle catlike smile as a purr rumbled in her throat,
which seemed rather unnatural to come from someone who was assumed
to be human.
''well for starters kitten, this is my realm... despite what most
fantasies nowadays describe the darkness fantasy element,
everything in my realm are pretty calm with the occasional
dispute'' she explained, swaying her tail gracefully as she tilted
her head a little and folded her arms behind her back.
her flicked her ears as she looked at them for a moment, taking in
the information she could see before speaking again.
''this dimension is split into four realms, one for each fantasy
element, giant tree behind me is the nexus tree, the lifeblood of
this entire dimension and the thing that protects this place'' Xena
said.
Dawn couldn't deny that she was in awe. After all, she had sat
through hours of "historic" Fantasy lectures that, admittedly, she
and a vast majority of the other Fantasies had brushed off as mere
myths or tall tales. She bit her lip to suppress the ironic smile
that dared to tug at her face muscles as she scanned the towering
stalk of the tree, which was a spitting image of the ones described
in her childhood stories. Maxwell's soft grip on her arm seemed to
pull her back to reality--danger.
"Are there others here?" She asked Xena, a bit unsettled by how
remarkably bare the dimension was.
''well aside from the creature's that reside in all of the four
realms, there are four beasts for each elemental attribute, you've
already met Tempest~ he's been guarding your sister and her friends
from evil creature's'' Xena said, arching her back a bit as she
shifted forms, lowering down onto all fours as her clothes melted
and slowly became her fur once more.
she shook her raven pelt with even darker splotches out a bit and
opened her amber eyes, standing in a more regal stance as she
looked at them.
''there is no danger here, you are as safe as can be in any of the
realms, the other beasts will understand the situation if you
explain to them why i brought you here.... they probably already
sense you both even if your power's are suppressed'' she said.
Her eyebrows furrowed and she shot a look at Maxwell. "Tempest...?"
She murmured, wondering how the Weather Beast could have possibly
crossed paths with her sister. She's been away from me for a
while, Dawn reminded herself, things have changed.
Maxwell perked up at the mention of Tempest's name and looked at
Xena, then looked at Dawn for a moment, then looked down a little
bit.
''Fallow knew Tempest longer than i have.... i met him outside of
the fantasy camp in a cave before all hell broke loose..'' he
muttered.
For a minute, Dawn didn't know what to say. An itch crawled up her
throat and she cleared it briefly, covering her mouth with her
fist. "The Fantasy camp?" She asked softly in disbelief.
Maxwell nodded and shifted from one foot to the other, staring down
at the ground after stepping back a little bit and fidgeting with
the sleeve of the sweater Justin had given him.
''yeah, before the camp was attacked... she woke me up in the
middle of the night and led me out to a stone hill that had a
cavern, behind the vine cover Tempest was there... she shared a
secret with me that i don't think she shared with you'' he said,
looking back up at Dawn, head slightly tilted when he spoke the
last part.
Xena sat down and rolled her shoulders, first the left then the
right, and sighed softly as she decided to let them talk.
Xena's soft sigh alerted Dawn to her mild annoyance, and although
she had more to say on the topic, she simply gave Maxwell a solemn
nod to end the conversation.
She turned back to the matter at hand, catching a glimpse at
Maxwell's injury with a scrunched nose. "Anyways. Thank you so much
for sheltering us, Xena. Is there any way that we could get Maxwell
back home safely?"
Xena perked up and tilted her head a bit, ears swiveled in they're
direction at Dawn's question while Mawell simply looked away
now.
''i figured you both would have wanted to rest a bit first, let
your abilities return completely before heading off'' she said,
thinking that was hat they're plan would've been at first.
Dawn's lips scrunched up in consideration to the suggestion as she
looked at Maxwell. Her eyes strayed to his side and she took a deep
breath. "Is there any way we can transport right to the house?...
It'll be safe there, and you need to be treated as soon as
possible. You guys have some strong nature Fantasies."
Her voice was strained with her next admittance: "I left Fallow at
home. But what do you want to do?"
Maxwell just hugged himself, one arm putting pressure on his opened
wound, and trembled a little bit as tears slowly started to well up
in his eyes.
''i just want to go home..! i just wanted to make sure Fallow was
safe and tell them she didn't betray us, i know she wouldn't but
they were all arguing back and fourth about whether she did or
not!'' he shouted, the reason he was even in this mess in the first
place surfacing once more as tears trickled down his face.
Xena stayed silent as she watched what happened before she got up
and changed forms again, walking over and hugged him, gently
patting his head to try and help calm him down.