Quest for the Past: Asri's Tale

[Slask]

<DIV>Part 1 of my main character's history and story so far.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>~~~~</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN><FONT color=#ffffff><FONT size=2> <P>Things started out confusing, frightening even, for Asri. The first thing she remembered was the queasy feeling in her stomach as the ship she was on pitched in the waves of the sea. She couldn’t remember why she was on this ship or when she boarded it. In fact…she couldn’t remember <EM>anything</EM> besides her first name, the rest of her memory as black as the Norrathian night sky. Alright, she did know <EM>what</EM> she was: an Iksar, but that didn’t help her recall anything about her past.</P> <P>Around her were other passengers, looking as confused and frightened as she was. From what she could see, she was the only Iksar among them. Asri felt disgusted by this, what cruel god saw it fit to strand her memory less on a ship full of weak soft skins? She wanted badly to be with another Iksar to confide in: maybe some of the crew were fellow Iksar. Her mind made up she stood up and made her way toward the hold door, somehow keeping her balance despite how much the ship rolled and pinched. One of the soft skins called out to her: Don’t go out! We seem to be in a storm! Asri just scoffed at him, opened the door wide and stepped outside onto the deck.</P> <P>It was dark outside, the wind howled and sea spray pelted her dark colored scales. Above her the rigging flapped and slapped against the mast of the ship, the wind threatening to rip them from the wood. Angry lightning flashed and thunder rumbled it’s warnings. There was no one else on the deck and for good reason, but Asri was not going to go back into that hold. Determined to find another of her kind, she started to fight her way across the deck, the wind and water of the waves attempting to throw her overboard with each step.</P> <P>She had made it to the main mast when the ship suddenly lurched sideways, causing her to fall to the slippery deck. Stunned she could not brace herself for the wave that then slammed against the side of the ship, shattering timber and washing her overboard. The water of the sea swallowed her eagerly, but she was Iksar, her kind lived in and around water all their lives and would not be drowned so easily. With a few powerful kicks and thrashes of her tail, she surfaced, but the ship was no longer in sight.</P> <P>Reality quickly sank in then: even Iksar could not swim forever and with no sight of land or ship she knew she would eventually drown if she just tried to swim out the storm. Her only chance was to find something to hang on to and wait out the storm, then pray rescue comes along before the sharks find her. As fate would have it, she spotted a sizable piece of debris the wave must have knocked off the ship and swam for it. Once she reached it she cling on to it for dear life and began the long wait for the storm to end…</P></FONT></FONT></SPAN></DIV>

[Slask]

<P>Part 2.</P> <P>~~~~</P><FONT color=#ffffff> <P>Time has lost it’s meaning to her. Asri had survived the storm, but riding it out has sapped her of much of her strength. Now the sun was beating down on her and while in normal circumstances the sun would give her strength out here seemed only to drain her further. On top of that she was hungry and thirsty, having no recollection of when she last had a meal. With no land, no ship, in sight, it seemed she was doomed to die out here in the middle of the ocean. Sighing with resignation, she closed her eyes and waited for the end.</P> <P>She must have dozed off, for the sun was suddenly no longer so intense on her scales and the sky was now starting to dress in it’s evening colors. Asri found the scene quite serene, peaceful even, the shattered moon Lucin only adding to it’s beauty. Alone in the water, she started wondering what her past was. Did she have a family? A mate? Was she an Iksar of some importance in their society? Now it seemed she will never know, not in life at least, provided the gods saw it fit to grant her an afterlife.</P> <P>So lost in her pondering she did not hear the danger behind her until it was almost too late. It was the creaking of wood and splashing of water that made her look back to see a ship. One that was heading right for her. Asri was forced to relinquish her improvised life raft in a mad dash to get out of the ships way, lest it smash her against it’s bulk. The act saved her from becoming ‘seakill’, but it robbed her of what strength she had left and she struggled to stay above water. She tried calling out to the ship as it passed, but dehydration had robbed her of her voice. Asri watched in despair as the ship passed her completely, seemingly oblivious to the helpless Iksar adrift in the sea. What a cruel twist of a fate that the one thing she needed to save her life actually drove the final nail into her coffin. She cursed the gods as the last of her strength faded completely and the waves once again claimed her.</P></FONT>