Timeline: 3 Years After Calamity
Ages of Involved Characters: Dayan Dotharl (28), Rumi Dotharl (12), Yesui Hotgo (8)
Chapter 1 - Prey and Predator
The silence in the small clearing at the feet of a rocky hill was broken just as the sun above started its descent towards the western horizon. The rustle of dead leaves being stomped on by fast, small hooves in great strides, then the whipping noise of something snapping, and a stomp that came in unison with the pained, throaty groan of a large mammal. In its frenzy, panicked escape from a bigger threat, the deer had been incautious in its steps and had not detected the trap laid in wait just over a small, dutifully piled outcrop of rocks and pieces of bark ahead of its route. The inertia of its race, and its natural weight had done the rest, delivering the beast to a bed of spikes made with bones and branches in the hole dug beneath the camouflage.
Thirty seconds of silence, and then a black-haired Hyur came out from behind a fallen tree. "It's done..!" He said, trotting up to the hole to look in it, and then bursting with a triumphing laughter. "Nakura, come! It's HUGE!"
Another, older man walked up to side with the first, his shoulders covered with a leather hide woven with leaves all over its surface. He carried a bow in hand, and looking down at the dying deer with a satisfied smile, he quickly nocked one arrow and shot it in the head, putting the beast out of its misery. "Our ancestors smile on us today, my brother."
"You think there could be more nearby?"
"Let us not push our luck, this will suffice us plenty for at least a week–" Nakura's words froze, and he looked up, alert.
His younger sibling was still admiring their prize, when he finally noticed the silence. "Naku–?" He winced when the archer slapped one hand on his mouth, and pointed one finger, slowly, towards the hill, the direction the deer had come from.
Horse strides, in a well cadenced canter. Someone was coming in a rush, and they were looking around for something.
"We need to leave." Nakura said in a whisper, starting to turn around.
"What? No. We have been sitting on this trap all day, I am not going to let some passer-by steal our food…!"
"It's probably what the deer was running fro– Makotsu!" Nakura crouched down, trying to grab his brother's collar to stop him from climbing inside the hole, but moved too slowly. He watched in anger as the younger Hyur began working the deer's body out the spikes. "We will never make it with something that heavy, come out, now!"
"Shut up and go get the ropes…!"
"You–-stupid– Ugh!" Fuming, Nakura walked away and out of sight, heading quickly towards the small camp they had set up along the river not too far from there. Both their horses were old and thin. there was no way they could have pulled out that deer out in a quick fashion. His brother was out of his mind!
After the last of the spikes had been pulled out from the deer's body, Makotsu was confident that in the evening they would have been welcomed back to the village as heroes. He couldn't recall a better prey in the past five years, and the ancestors were definitely answering their prayers at last. He didn't even hear the sound of approaching hooves anymore. His brother was just paranoid.
And, lazy, too. What was taking him so long? The sense of time was lost in that hole, but the sun was already out of sight from down there, and it wouldn't have been long before the pale gray of the sky would have faded in the flaming colors that were typical of the sunsets on that side of Othard.
After successfully counting up to one-hundred without hearing a single noise, Makotsu started to consider the possibility that his older brother had chickened out and gone to hide somewhere instead. And if he had done so, it would have been hours before his return.
"Nakura, you little piece of–-" He growled, struggling against the steep wall of mud and rocks to crawl out of the pit. "Just wait until I get you… You're not going to have the slightest credit for this hunt!"
"Makots….."
Makotsu froze on the spot, his body hauled only half-way over the edge of the pit, as he stared in shock at the bloody form of his older brother to the ground, just a few yalms from him. He was face-down, his head turned to stare at him through eyes that were already veiled with death. His left hand twitched, in spasms, towards him.
"R-run–- Agh!" It wasn't a real scream what escaped the Hyur's mouth as a third arrow struck him, not in the leg or back like the former two, but to the back of the head, taking his life away without a spare moment of mercy.
"NAKURA!" Makotsu pulled himself up, crawling out and up to his brother. His hands were shaking, he didn't know what to do, feeling terrified even just to touch his brother, so weak and pale he looked already. It was as though he was just about to turn into a pile of dust to be blown in the breeze. "NAKU–!"
"He tried to shoot me. Because you were there."
Makotsu gasped at the cold, deep voice that came from the other side of the clearing. And there, he saw his brother's assassin. Riding on top of a huge bay mare was a just as imposing Xaela rider. Clad in dark leather and blood-stained cloth, the pearl-white hue of his skin seemed to give an even darker shine to the scales that framed his face, only a shade lighter than the raven, long wild locks of hair that danced in the autumnal breeze of the valley. His eyes seemed to be pitch black, with no clear distinction between the irises and schlera. The eyes of a beast, pointing straight at him without mercy, like the curved horns on the sides and top of his head.
If there was any doubt in Makotsu's heart about the tribe the Auri belonged to, it was wiped the moment his eyes set on the horse he was riding. The mane and tail were adorned with a series of dark, little horns, each tied to a different lock, that the wind shook and knocked together like creepy wind chimes. On the beast's forehead was the severed top of an Auri skull, the horns of its departed owner now decorating the sides of the animal's face as its own.
The Dotharl.
"So what will it be?" The Xaela asked calmly, his hands slowly rising and pulling the large bow, another deadly arrow aiming straight at the Hyur. "He died to protect you. Shall you live on to his sacrifice, to the torment of his spirit, or fight and join him in the Other World?"
With a scream, Makotsu broke out of his paralysis, and turned away from his brother's warm corpse to run, run as fast and far as he could. He knew he did not stand a chance. He knew he wouldn't have lived to see his camp again, get on top of his old gelding and escape death. It wasn't possible, he had been targeted by a Dotharl archer, and there was no hope. Oh, ancestors….
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
Dayan of the Dotharl kept his bow's string tense and ready for two whole minutes, before the sound of a horse galloping away vibrated against his horns. He relaxed, quietly exhaling without a blink. He put the arrow back in the quiver tied to the side of his saddle, and then dismounted to retrieve the others he had used.
As well as his deer.
Ages of Involved Characters: Dayan Dotharl (28), Rumi Dotharl (12), Yesui Hotgo (8)
Chapter 1 - Prey and Predator
The silence in the small clearing at the feet of a rocky hill was broken just as the sun above started its descent towards the western horizon. The rustle of dead leaves being stomped on by fast, small hooves in great strides, then the whipping noise of something snapping, and a stomp that came in unison with the pained, throaty groan of a large mammal. In its frenzy, panicked escape from a bigger threat, the deer had been incautious in its steps and had not detected the trap laid in wait just over a small, dutifully piled outcrop of rocks and pieces of bark ahead of its route. The inertia of its race, and its natural weight had done the rest, delivering the beast to a bed of spikes made with bones and branches in the hole dug beneath the camouflage.
Thirty seconds of silence, and then a black-haired Hyur came out from behind a fallen tree. "It's done..!" He said, trotting up to the hole to look in it, and then bursting with a triumphing laughter. "Nakura, come! It's HUGE!"
Another, older man walked up to side with the first, his shoulders covered with a leather hide woven with leaves all over its surface. He carried a bow in hand, and looking down at the dying deer with a satisfied smile, he quickly nocked one arrow and shot it in the head, putting the beast out of its misery. "Our ancestors smile on us today, my brother."
"You think there could be more nearby?"
"Let us not push our luck, this will suffice us plenty for at least a week–" Nakura's words froze, and he looked up, alert.
His younger sibling was still admiring their prize, when he finally noticed the silence. "Naku–?" He winced when the archer slapped one hand on his mouth, and pointed one finger, slowly, towards the hill, the direction the deer had come from.
Horse strides, in a well cadenced canter. Someone was coming in a rush, and they were looking around for something.
"We need to leave." Nakura said in a whisper, starting to turn around.
"What? No. We have been sitting on this trap all day, I am not going to let some passer-by steal our food…!"
"It's probably what the deer was running fro– Makotsu!" Nakura crouched down, trying to grab his brother's collar to stop him from climbing inside the hole, but moved too slowly. He watched in anger as the younger Hyur began working the deer's body out the spikes. "We will never make it with something that heavy, come out, now!"
"Shut up and go get the ropes…!"
"You–-stupid– Ugh!" Fuming, Nakura walked away and out of sight, heading quickly towards the small camp they had set up along the river not too far from there. Both their horses were old and thin. there was no way they could have pulled out that deer out in a quick fashion. His brother was out of his mind!
After the last of the spikes had been pulled out from the deer's body, Makotsu was confident that in the evening they would have been welcomed back to the village as heroes. He couldn't recall a better prey in the past five years, and the ancestors were definitely answering their prayers at last. He didn't even hear the sound of approaching hooves anymore. His brother was just paranoid.
And, lazy, too. What was taking him so long? The sense of time was lost in that hole, but the sun was already out of sight from down there, and it wouldn't have been long before the pale gray of the sky would have faded in the flaming colors that were typical of the sunsets on that side of Othard.
After successfully counting up to one-hundred without hearing a single noise, Makotsu started to consider the possibility that his older brother had chickened out and gone to hide somewhere instead. And if he had done so, it would have been hours before his return.
"Nakura, you little piece of–-" He growled, struggling against the steep wall of mud and rocks to crawl out of the pit. "Just wait until I get you… You're not going to have the slightest credit for this hunt!"
"Makots….."
Makotsu froze on the spot, his body hauled only half-way over the edge of the pit, as he stared in shock at the bloody form of his older brother to the ground, just a few yalms from him. He was face-down, his head turned to stare at him through eyes that were already veiled with death. His left hand twitched, in spasms, towards him.
"R-run–- Agh!" It wasn't a real scream what escaped the Hyur's mouth as a third arrow struck him, not in the leg or back like the former two, but to the back of the head, taking his life away without a spare moment of mercy.
"NAKURA!" Makotsu pulled himself up, crawling out and up to his brother. His hands were shaking, he didn't know what to do, feeling terrified even just to touch his brother, so weak and pale he looked already. It was as though he was just about to turn into a pile of dust to be blown in the breeze. "NAKU–!"
"He tried to shoot me. Because you were there."
Makotsu gasped at the cold, deep voice that came from the other side of the clearing. And there, he saw his brother's assassin. Riding on top of a huge bay mare was a just as imposing Xaela rider. Clad in dark leather and blood-stained cloth, the pearl-white hue of his skin seemed to give an even darker shine to the scales that framed his face, only a shade lighter than the raven, long wild locks of hair that danced in the autumnal breeze of the valley. His eyes seemed to be pitch black, with no clear distinction between the irises and schlera. The eyes of a beast, pointing straight at him without mercy, like the curved horns on the sides and top of his head.
If there was any doubt in Makotsu's heart about the tribe the Auri belonged to, it was wiped the moment his eyes set on the horse he was riding. The mane and tail were adorned with a series of dark, little horns, each tied to a different lock, that the wind shook and knocked together like creepy wind chimes. On the beast's forehead was the severed top of an Auri skull, the horns of its departed owner now decorating the sides of the animal's face as its own.
The Dotharl.
"So what will it be?" The Xaela asked calmly, his hands slowly rising and pulling the large bow, another deadly arrow aiming straight at the Hyur. "He died to protect you. Shall you live on to his sacrifice, to the torment of his spirit, or fight and join him in the Other World?"
With a scream, Makotsu broke out of his paralysis, and turned away from his brother's warm corpse to run, run as fast and far as he could. He knew he did not stand a chance. He knew he wouldn't have lived to see his camp again, get on top of his old gelding and escape death. It wasn't possible, he had been targeted by a Dotharl archer, and there was no hope. Oh, ancestors….
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
Dayan of the Dotharl kept his bow's string tense and ready for two whole minutes, before the sound of a horse galloping away vibrated against his horns. He relaxed, quietly exhaling without a blink. He put the arrow back in the quiver tied to the side of his saddle, and then dismounted to retrieve the others he had used.
As well as his deer.
To be an interesting, intriguing, well-written character, there needs to be something to allow the audience to relate to them. That is what the problem is with who wants their character to be "perfect". Perfect characters will never be strong, and strong characters will never be perfect, because WE (those who read, who watch, who RP) are not perfect.
"What makes a strong character is how they deal with their flaws, their fears, their turmoils, their troubles that get in the way. That's what makes them relatable." -- N.C.
"What makes a strong character is how they deal with their flaws, their fears, their turmoils, their troubles that get in the way. That's what makes them relatable." -- N.C.