"Kukoa! Wait up, don't leave me!"<br/><br/>"Watch your head!"<br/><br/>*Clunk!*<br/><br/>Two oval openings began to form as a blurred image of a rocky cover appeared, a low stalactite protruding from just above. There was a muffled voice to be heard, but little could be comprehended. With a woeful grown a young lady supported and propped herself up using her hands to push against the rocky surface.<br/><br/>"Wh...What happened?"<br/><br/>"Now didn't I tell you to watch your head? Come on, Zoey, on your feet!"<br/><br/>What communicated to the young girl was a creature closely resembling a rabbit with a more upright posture and what looked to be a kind of shell on its back. Two antenna poked high above his head while his massive floppy ears, which could be erected at will, were typically dropped down and dragged across the ground. When it spoke, it's bright green eyes illuminate and the speech was delivered telepathically, resounding in the mind of the creature Kukoa desired to speak with. Zoey pushed herself to her feet, brushing off her clothing. She wore a long silk blouse and whatt seemed like indigo capris. Her shoes were a tattered type of sandles, exposing her delicate and dirty feet. Draped over her was a white cloak with red lacings, and a large hood that drooped over her head. Her eyes were a bright sapphire, with locks of honey-brown hair falling in front of her face and over her soft pink lips.<br/><br/>""Well maybe if we weren't going so fast I would have had time to see what was in front of me! And it's cold and dark and scary down here. Why are we here?"<br/><br/>Zoey wailed in complaint. She began to quickly follow her strange friend through an increasingly narrowing tunnel of jagged rocks. The pace was fast and difficult to keep up with, considering the amount of obstacles she had to overcome and the protrusions she had to avoid. Her cloak began to get smudges of dirt on it as the two quickly traveled into further miserable conditions.<br/><br/>""Well I don't know about you but sticking around to let those nasty Pukwudgies get us sounds a lot less appealing than a bit of a hike. Unless you'd like to turn around. I wouldn't mind letting them sew your mouth shut for a while.<br/><br/>With that, Zoey came to a sudden halt. She turned to look back into the lengthy darkness of the tunnel she was in. Deep thought overtook her, and she began to realize what she had just left behind. She looked down, feeling a few tears start to form as she tried to blink them away. Suddenly Kukoa stopped as well, turning to Zoey.<br/><br/>"They'll be ok right?" Zoey asked.<br/><br/>"If we keep moving, and do exactly as I say...Yes, your parents will be just fine. They will have already been taken by now to the Great Castle. There is only one way to save them Zoey. We must move faster. The Pukwudgies will likely find your parent's escape hatch soon, if they haven't already."<br/><br/>It was out of fear that Zoey resumed her trek through the tunnel, following the strange creature her family had held so long as a house pet. Things were not always this way. She had always been warned of the troubles coming from where the shadows grow. Her family lived far away in a special tower, with a community of good people who resisted the shadows. But today was the day she was always told would come. It happened so suddenly. Creatures about three to four feet tall over ran the village, carrying rope and nets. There were so many of them, and they moved rapidly. In a matter of minutes she could see her friends being dragged away from her position in the tower. The Pukwudgies were ugly creatures, troll-like with big noses and sticky green skin. Gnashing their gnarled teeth and pointing their spears as they invaded the village. The prisoners the Pukwudgies took always had their mouths sewn shut and their heads shaven before they were dragged off to the Great Castle. Kukoa had led Zoey down here, and for the past hour and a half they had been hastily fleeing via this tunnel she had only recently been told of.<br/><br/>Finally, the adventure came to a stop. Before the pair was a large oak door with a tiny slot awaiting a key for entrance. Zoey reached into her blouse and removed a chain around her neck holding a key oddly shaped like a crooked heart. Looking to Kukoa as he nodded, Zoey took a deep breath in and inserted the key. With a twist, the door made a clinking noise and she pushed it open. The two entered a room, closing the door behind them. Zoey stood in awe...Before her now was an obelisk with strange runes engraved into it. Atop the obelisk, suspending in the air as if by magic, was a large staff. The rod was textured smoothly with a few decorative designs of a strange nature on it, an odd crescent at the top with a suspended opaque orb in the middle. It was a Sceptre.<br/><br/>"We haven't much time, Zoey. Take the Sceptre, it's the only hope of saving your family. That door won't hold the Pukwudgies for long, they chew through wood faster than I chew through sugar cane!"<br/><br/>Zoey could hear scratching against rocks and the grunts and shrieks of the creatures. They were not far now. Zoey climbed up the obelisk as fast as she could, taking hold of the Sceptre and breaking it from it's invisible bonds that held it so perfectly suspended in the air. She jumped down from the obelisk with a thud, clutching the Sceptre tightly in both hands and looking over it.<br/><br/>"Hurry!" Kukoa boomed into Zoey's mind as he pushed against the wooden door.<br/><br/>"What do I do!?" Zoey screamed. There was gnashing at the door and cries of the Pukwudgies as they began to attempt to break and chew through the door. Splinters began to form as small cracks bursted through. Zoey could see their beaty eyes glaring hungrily at her.<br/><br/>"Dance!" Kukoa said, courageously slamming his shell into the hard head of one of the Pukwudgies as it poked through an opening in the door.<br/><br/>"What?!"Zoey cried.<br/><br/>"What your mother showed you before supper every night! The movements are all the same, only now you have something to hold onto! DO IT!" Kukoa urged, sinking his teeth into the hands of one of the vile creatures as it reached for the latch.<br/><br/>Zoey stated down at the Sceptre, and firmed her grip. With a face of determination forming she threw back the hood of her cloak and began to whirl around in a circle, the cape of the cloak swaying widely as she swung her Sceptre about. The orb in the center began to form a soft sparkle. She twirled the Sceptre back over her hand clockwise several times, kicking her leg up as high as it could go. She closed her eyes just before seeing Kukoa begin to grapple with one of the Pukwudgies. Switching the Sceptre into her other hand behind her back, she then brought it forward in a vertical position. In unison, she slammed her foot and the tip of the Sceptre into the ground as hard as she could, yelling at the top of her lungs. The orb in the center shined brightly and the blinding light then filled the room...<br/><br/>* * *<br/><br/>With a loud boom, leaves were blown out of the way and suddenly appeared the two, Zoey and Kukoa, unharmed. Zoey opened her eyes. She found herself in a quiet village, not too unlike her own. With a panting pace of breath, she looked around in confusion.<br/><br/>"Where are we?" Zoey questioned.<br/><br/>Biraneah...One of the outer villages. The Shadow ones have not been here yet. But they are not far..." Kukoa said as he took a few hops towards a straw hut.<br/><br/>It was quiet, but there was commotion here and there. People were packing their things and preparing for departure. Zoey could see people with shaven heads and stitched mouths. People who were rescued from their horrid slavery by the Shadow people. There were others, creatures of all kinds attending to their own business. They knew it would not be long before the village was over run. Carts were loaded and pushed off to the North.<br/><br/>""What's happening?" Zoey asked.<br/><br/>"They are leaving. I had hoped we would find help from someone here but I may have been wrong.<br/>Best to put the Sceptre away. People may wish to take it from you if they know what it is. We must be cautious of who we trust." Kukoa said.<br/><br/>"What do we do now?" Zoey asked, doing her best to cover the Sceptre within her cloak. It didn’t appear anyone had noticed their miraculous arrival. Perhaps due to their haste in trying to escape the village before it was too late.<br/><br/>"Our only hope is to flee by sea. I may know of a way we can acquire transport by boat. Wait here, I will see what I can find. Don't talk to strangers!" Kukoa said to her as he bounced off to a nearby building.<br/><br/>By appearance it seemed to be a tavern. Inside and around the tavern, there were only people who didn’t seem to worried about the coming dangers. Such a fearless type of character could come to use to their cause, or so it would seem that was Kukoa's hope. Zoey let out a large sigh and sat upon a stone, looking at the ground as she rested her chin in her hands.<br/><br/>--------------------------------------------------------------------<br/><span style="font-style: italic">The Shadow People are an alliance of many different kinds of evil creatures with the intention of enslaving all other life in this fantasy world. It is up to a select few to oppose them, using Zoey as the holder of the "Sceptre", a powerful artifact she has the power to control. Open RP to all, with a myriad of possible characters to join in. Any kind of creature or person you can imagine, feel free to introduce. This is all about crazy fantasy characters it is up to you to enter yourself into the party, whether you wish to join in helping Zoey or be a character of the Shadow People trying to stop them.</span>