User:Khandivya/A Cautionary Tale

''(( I had the idea for this while walking to another office to fix a computer that was crashing randomly in Word. I wrote and proofread this over my lunch break. I'm currently running over my lunch break. Enjoy, I had a wicked fun time writing it Smiley ))''

Keishe was running. The gravel road under her feet crunched loudly with every footstep, louder in her head than in reality. Ahead she could see only fog, behind her saw more fog, but a different fog, a plagued fog. It moved behind her, just fast enough to make her run as quickly as she could, but slow enough that she could keep pace and stay ahead. She wasn’t certain were she was going, nor where she had come from, but she was certain that somewhere ahead of her was safety.

Just in front of her a large shape appeared out of the fog. It was as tall as a building, with huge spikes sticking every which way out of it. Her first reaction was to stop and run the other way. But her first reaction was wrong, the gas would catch her if she did, so she kept running forward, praying inside that she would have time to solve any problems ahead.

As she ran, the shape became clearer, the fog lighter and easier to see through. The shape was just the tall tower in the Crossroads, nothing to be afraid of. Now she could stop running.

But she looked back before she stopped, and saw that the cloud was still behind her, still moving as quickly as she was, so she couldn’t stop. She kept running. As she passed the tower, two people walked out of it, in the middle of a playful tickle.

“Slow down!” Tati yelled, fear ripe in her voice as she saw Keishe run.

“Dat’s de wrong way!” Kranik said.

“I can’t!” Keishe yelled back, and she was out of the village again.

She kept running. Every time she thought she might be able to slow down a bit, to catch her breath, she looked back. And each time she looked back it seemed like the cloud sped up just a hair, just enough to force her to look straight ahead again and to increase her speed.

She took a right at a fork in the road, hoping to throw the poison off, maybe it was alive, or maybe it was controlled by someone, maybe she could confuse it. Running with all of her power, she came into Camp Taurajo. As she sped through the village, through the fog, she saw a lady browsing a shop vendor, a bright white aura surrounding her form. She held a silk scarf, glittered with gold and silver sparkles up against her face, and a small crystal ball in her other hand.

“Keishe! Why’re joo going so fast?” Shahkha laughed.

“I have to!” Keishe panted as she passed.

She kept running. The gravel under her feet turned lighter, less like rocks and more like sand. More like someone had put it there, less like it had been put there by years of use. The rocky hills disappeared, and small tufts of grass began to show up on the roadside. She looked around as she ran through the meadows that had appeared in front of her. The fog disappeared, and the sun came out, showing the most beautiful grass, the tallest trees, the air seemed fresher and brighter and infused her with more strength, more ability to keep her pace up. She almost thought she could stop, but once again when she looked back, the plague was still just behind her, eating up the beauty as it passed, destroying the grass and withering the trees. She passed a road marker that said “Bloodhoof Village” and “Thunder Bluffs” and she knew that she must be coming close to where she needed to be. She had to be.

In front of her the sun was still shining, and she imagined that people would be laughing and singing and dancing on a day like today. She ran past a lake, and saw three people around it.

“Hey Keishe! Come for a swim! It’s a beautiful day to spend in the water!” Bronwyn yelled, and cheerfully waved her over from the middle of the lake.

“Hey Keishe! Come help me out here! It’s a splendid day for a good sword fight!” Spartan yelled, and cheerfully waved her over with his free hand, his weapon still flying through the air with grace and ease against his dwarven opponent.

“Joo guys are in danger!” Keishe screamed back, putting the last of her breath into her scream.

She kept running. She crossed the bridge over the lake, and she saw her reflection in the water briefly. The cloud was mere seconds behind her now. She looked horrible, pale, her hair ragged and her clothes ripped to shreds, much like she had been in a fist fight recently. She wondered how she had gotten into such a state, hadn’t she just gone to sleep a few moments ago? But the thought was wiped from her mind as the adrenaline flowed through her again, giving her some last strength to reach where she needed to go, what she needed to do to be the hero, to save everyone.

In the distance she saw the tall rocks of Thunder Bluff. The sun sparkled off of something at the top, almost blinding her, and the bluffs rose majestically up towards the sky. That was where she needed to be. That was where home was. She would find her answers there.

She ran over another bridge, over a ditch, and started up the hill to the elevators that moved people up and down the Bluffs all day. Her head was lowered and her breath was shallow and run thin by the time she reached the elevator. Luck was with her, it was just coming down as she ran up the ramp. Now she knew she would be safe.

As the elevator came down, she saw a person standing in it. As the person got closer, Keishe saw that it was Khandivya, her long lost sister.

“You’re late Keishe. You’re much too late.” Khandivya frowned and walked out of the elevator, towards the cloud of plague.

“I’m sorry! I did my best!” Keishe stopped at last, no longer worried about the poisonous cloud behind her.

“It’s not good enough. You have to do better.” Khandivya stepped towards Keishe. She walked past her and into the cloud, disappearing into it.

Keishe knelt down on the ramp, tears flooding her eyes. She couldn’t keep going. She had nothing left. The cloud caught her.

She woke up.

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