Post by Jolt on Oct 8, 2016 20:29:54 GMT 1
Year 9,946 AL (After Landing)
Felt and a few others of the Plains Runners were out gathering the shed animal fur of the Brow Horns. Shed due to the arrival of the warmer weather now that mid spring was here and the last of the snow long since melted. Last years scrub brush made for good catches for the fur shed by the large bovines. The elves were widely spaced as they crisscrossed this area of the vast plains. Some were gathering tubers and fresh greens, and others hunting for small game with sling and stone, while most were collecting the warm winter fur to be made into felt, by Felt. He had discovered the process of using water to mat the hairs together to form thick slabs of the stuff to make warm things. He reasoned if the hair kept the big beasts warm in very cold winters it would keep an elf warm too. The felt was used for clothing and for the sides and tops of the yurts. Yurts were easy to set up tent like temporary structures of bound frames made from wood and long animal bones or tusks and then covered in the felt making enclosing walls and roof. The yurts were transportable once broken down for the nomadic elves that dwelt on the plains.
Among the group was Skysinger, the storm caller, whose magic helped her bring forth the gentle rains that brought forth new growth of plants on the plains, and thus the animals that depended on them for food. She too was collecting the animal fur, but she was also looking at the sky and the potential for clouds over the next few days. She hoped that if conducive she could sing her magic to bring forth the rains to encourage new growth of the grasses for the roaming herds, and thus bring food for the Plains Runners.
Felt looked up from his back bending work of collecting the shed animal furs, and looked around at the other elves around him. He saw Skysinger off a ways and she was singing her magic into life, summoning the clouds to start a gentle rain. Usually she waited until all the elves were back at the camp and inside the yurts, to do her rain singing magic. He tried to send to her, but got no response from her as she was too deep into her trance. He started walking over to her to ask her why she was doing this now. As he moved towards Skysinger, he sent to the scattered elves on the open plain around him, *Something is not right, Skysinger is doing a rain calling. Get back to the camp as fast as you can, take cover.* The wind started picking up coming in waves of breezes, warm and moist, and then getting stronger as gusts, lifting up dry dust and the smell of pollen and far off rain getting nearer. The closer he got to her, the more fierce the winds became and more flotsam was picked up into the wind, now even more heavy with the scent of rain.
Felt knew he should be running back to the camp to seek shelter himself, but he was drawn to Skysinger and, for her, her odd behavior. He received a sending from the others that they had made it safely back to camp. One worry aswaged, he continued on towards Skysinger and the going got even more difficult from the weather worsening. She was standing facing away from him the whole time he approached her. Contrary to custom to never touch one doing magic, he grabbed both her shoulders and spun her around to face him as he lock sent to her **You must stop...** His sending trailed off unfinished as his eyes met hers, and soul met soul. Recognition! Here now amid this oncoming vicious storm?
Thunder rumbled in the distance. And the two stood facing each other. Succumbing to the irresistible biological impulse to mate over took them. They removed their clothing, safe in the center of the storm's vortex. Skyfire lashed across the darkly clouded sky, clouds flying faster than thought possible. As they embraced and consummated their desires, the rain came pouring down upon them both, the winds ripping around them taking their discarded clothing, yet leaving the pair in a calm eye of this storm. As they joined and neared final release and the creating of a new elfin life, skyfire struck all around them scorching the earth. The two were oblivious to what was raging around them, Hail started raining down, but avoided striking them. Together in orgasm, lock sending to each other, sharing each other's pleasures with the other, building and increasing their own by doing so in a feed back loop. The rain and hail came passing over and around them in sheets. A final crescendo passed between the two, and the skyfire again struck the ground around them both. Then everything storm-wise ended. As the two came back to themselves, they smiled at each other, looked for their now gone clothing, stolen by the storm, and both knew their daughter Jolt had been conceived. They walked slowly, energy spent, back to the camp. They heard voices of other elves calling their names in worry, sendings too came their way, yet they could not answer them due to physical and mental exhaustion. Those searching for them, eventually spotted them cresting a small rise, and ran to them in astonishment they had survived such a storm, and doubly surprised when they realized this was a recognition like no other among the Plains Runners.
Year 9,960 AL
Eight and four turns of the season had passed for the tribe since Jolt's birth, and little Jolt was out walking with Felt learning how to hunt with her new bow, a gift from Fletch the master bow maker of the tribes. Fletch was her mother's lifemate, and was considered as much Jolt's father as Felt was, and Felt's lifemate Starmist, the tribe's healer, was as much a mother to her as was Skysinger. Jolt had older siblings by both sets of parents and she played freely with those of the tribe young enough to still have the leisure time to play and have a childhood. Plains Runner children had short childhoods, and were expected to learn how to hunt, fish, trap, gather plants, whatever they could learn to survive life on the plains as quickly as possible and to be useful in aiding the tribe.
"Father," Jolt asked one more of her endless questions to her patient sire, "Will mother be singing up the rain soon again? I like it when the rains come." Felt smiled at the memory of Jolt's conception as he answered his daughter. "Of course you like the rain, dear one, It was during a storm that you were brought forth by your mother and I." Felt and Skysinger's recognition had become the stuff of legend among the tribes for it was like no other recognition in memory among them. "I like how the drops tickle my skin as it falls." Again Felt smiled at his daughter, reaching for her and lifting her up in his slender and strong arms to seat her on his shoulders giving her a ride on them, giving her a little tickle to her ribs. Jolt giggled in glee, then she tightened her legs around his torso, with legs locked under his arms, and hooked her feet behind his back so she didn't fall off.
"I can see farther from up here." She stated. "Good. Keep looking for prey." her father told her. "We should return to camp with something for the spit." The father and daughter continued on for a while without success, game, especially large game, had been becoming scarce in this area of the plains. They needed to move soon and let this area rest and recover. It was always good to leave an area depleted by hunting with a gift of rain. Skysinger was marshaling her magic and waiting for the right weather signs to appear so she could summon the rain from the clouds.
Still unsuccessful in nabbing something for the fire, the pair turned around and Felt let his daughter off his shoulders to walk beside him hand in hand, they returned to the camp.
Year 9,984 AL
*Eska, don't move!* Jolt urgently sent to her friend, *You are being stalked by a plains runner (cheetah like cat), coming up slowly behind you. When I tell you to run, run to my left side and I'll try and hit it with my arrows.* Eska froze in place, resisting the urge to look behind him. Jolt slowly drew back on her bow, arrow notched, a second arrow resting across her bent leg, ready to fire after the first was loosed at the plains runner. The fast cat slowed and stopped, judging the distance to Eska, and waiting for him to run. The cat crouched and prepared to spring into a sprint. Jolt pulled back her bowstring to its furthest and let fly, and reached for the second arrow notching it in place before the first arrow struck its target. The cat started its run as the first arrow neared its mark but missed. Jolt adjusted her aim leading the predator and let loose with the second arrow, sending to Eska to *RUN!*
Eska ran towards Jolt's hiding place as Jolt ran towards the fast cat, which was closing the distance rapidly. Jolt placed herself between the cat and Eska, using her bow as a weapon to strike at the cat's legs. She clipped it's shoulder hard and threw it off stride, and in the process she broke her bow rendering it useless for archery. The cat slowed and spun towards Jolt, letting out a snarl as it did so. As the two faced each other Jolt felt real fear for the first time in her life. Her body trembled and the hair on her head started to rise, tiny arcs of skyfire started to dance along her skin traveling down her arms towards her hands. She dropped the useless bow and brought her hands together instinctively, hands cupping nothing but the air between them, where the sparks gathered, joined, and began to form into a small ball.
Again the cat crouched to spring at its prey, this time Jolt. Jolt too was sizing up her threat, and the ball began to grow even larger to the size of a large egg. She felt her control beginning to slip and flung the ball with all the force her mind could project at the cat, catching it in the neck, singing the fur and burning the cat's muscles. The cat reacted with writhing spasms, and took off in a run away from Jolt who looked astonished at her own hands. 'What had she down? How had she done it?' Jolt stooped, grabbed her broken bow, and ran as fast as she could to Eska. Both still shaking in fright, returned to the latest camp of the Brow Horn tribe, to tell the others their harrowing tale.
Year 10,048 AL
Eleven eights of the turns had passed since her her father and her had gone hunting for the first time, and Jolt was a well rounded member of the Brow Horn tribe of Plains Runners. She hunted and fished the streams and rivers and ponds of the plains. She gathered shed fur in he spring and gathered what plants, nuts, seeds and roots were needed in the autumn. In summer medicinal herbs were picked and dried for healing uses. Winter time was the time of hunger for both prey and predator. No animal was shunned for food from the smallest rodents hibernating in burrows, to the large mastodons. Life wasn't easy but it wasn't hand to mouth survival either. There were hard times for all, and there were times of leisure and rejoicing as well. The long ago habits of the tribes' members had long since become ritual for these elves, to help give structure to their lives throughout the turns.
Jolt was experiencing one of these rituals now, and she was a recent addition to it. In the central communal yurt there were two hearths one was set with kindling and tinder ready to light and in the second were the last embers of a waning fire about to be doused for Daystar's Return. This took place on Midwinter's night every turn. At the height of the longest night's total darkness that would be experienced by all the elves there young and old, the old fire would be doused. A reminder of when they used to sail among the dark between the stars. This year instead of using flint and iron to strike sparks to make the new fire, Jolt would be using her magic to do the honors. At around a century of age jolt was considered an elder of her tribe now and ready to take on the mantle of teacher and guardian for the youth in the tribe.
The old fire was doused with some water, and smoke and steam rose up from the old fire pit. She was nervous, though she had been practicing, honing her unique magic, at times it was unreliable and failed her much to her chagrin, but other times with much rarity, it would get beyond her control. So far no one had gotten hurt and damage had been to mostly herself and the immediate area around her that was out of doors. She'd not used her magic inside the yurts often. The time had come for her to light the fire.
Her hands shook slightly as she brought forth the tiny sparks of skyfire along her body, dancing across her skin and clothing, arcing around her head lifting her hair into a visible glowing aura of bluish crackling energy. Around her she could see the light reflecting back at her from dozens of elven eyes in the darkness. As she knelt by the two firepits, one now dead and cooling, the other ready to receive the spark to bring it to a blaze. She brought her hands together before her face the electrical arcs skipping towards her fingers and palms. The now cold room and the arc light showed her frosty breath in the yurt as she exhaled slowly, as she focused her magic into her hands. The slower she built the magic the more effective it was and the better her control over it. A pea sized ball of crackling light formed between her cupped and twisting hands. She leaned close to the tinder material, fire fungus dried and powdered, fireweed fluff, cattail fluff, and birch bark shavings, prearranged in the fire pit. She brought the spark close to this material and sent the ball into it, willing it to burn the tinder to catch an ember. Finally a reddish glow was added to the blue of her electrical magic. She blew on this ember until it grew bright and bold, and then she released her magic with a popping sound, like that of a seed pod being roasted open on a hot rock. She reached for kindling as she continued to blow on the ember to coax it into a real flame yellow and orange, consuming the kindling and then the small pieces of wood added to the flames by herself. Then more wood and sticks were added slowly, one by one, by the other members of the tribe. This too was part of this ritual that each member added to the light and heat to entice the Daystar to return and bring its warmth and bounty to the tribes.
Jolt relaxed and sat back as the fire was now being tended by all of the tribe. She saw her Mother Skysinger smiled and nodded at her, as she too added her piece of wood in offering to the fire and the Daystar's return. Her father came up to the fire adding his own stick to the fire and reached down into the old hearth now cold, and retrieved a piece of charcoal from it. He took a small amulet pouch from inside his jerkin and opened it up, first he placed into it a piece of red ochre, also known as blood stone. He then placed the charcoal piece into the pouch along with a small raw nodule of flint. Next he placed a natural occurring bead of amber, and closed up the pouch. He strung a chord into pre-made holes around the opening of the pouch to sinch it closed and to use as a way to hang it around her neck, which he proceeded to place it so on her. She was now a full adult member of the tribe. Able to make her own decisions and to sit in tribal counsel. Help make a future for her people out on the open plains.
Year 10,077 AL
The grasses and bracken of the steppes were golden and dry from the now past summer as they waved in the gusts of winds heralding the change of season to autumn. Rains to come were on that wind as well as a scent not detected in a long time. HUMANS!
The Brow Horn Tribe pf Plains Runner Elves was quickly packing up their yurts preparing to move out to avoid the humans if possible. Eksa and a few other of the faster runners were out scouting to see where and how many of the dangerous humans there were. And to see which direction they were going. If the wrong direction and towards the temporary camp now being dismantled, they would need to be diverted if possible, or misled with false trails.
Eska and the others returned out of breath, and met with Fletch, who was now oldest of the elders still living. "Fletch, the humans are not a traveling band or hunters, they are warriors out to kill us. They have a banner with elf skulls dangling from it. They are headed this way and are armed with spears, nets, and some kind of new long dagger. They also wear hardened leather clothing that might deflect our flint tipped weapons. I think they are the Junnsland men that we have heard rumors of from those humans who live in peace with us on the plains. They number equal to all of our tribe and half again more. They are spread out a bit, but I do not like the look of them. Hardened men of war they seem." Eska spoke to Fletch as the rest of Eska's scouts caught their breaths.
Fletch looked around quickly at the now mostly broken down camp thinking of the lay of the land and where they could go to outrun these human warriors. "We must flee these men. Head to the rocky hills south east of here. Our rock shapers will have to make what shelter they can to protect us, hide us." Fletch then sent to his tribe in locksend. **Gather all foods and water you can. We must leave now. Our goal is the rock hills to the southeast, a days march or less from here. Hurry, times is short.** With that the scared band of elves started to march out in family groups, each laden down with what was needed for survival over the winter.
Jolt walked next to her mother Skysinger, who carried her pack and her youngest, newest born daughter, Salah, still too young to walk a journey so far. Jolt too had her pack on loaded with all her necessary belongings, plus food, and water. In one hand she had her bow and in the other her digging staff.
"Mother let me carry Salah for you, we're falling behind the others." A worried Jolt offered. Even though elves could cross the country and leave little trace of their passing, laden drag poles with packed up yurts left obvious signs of their passing through the grasses and scrub. As the land rose towards the rock hills, the tribe's going slowed. There were other stragglers ahead of them, but Jolt, her mother with her sister were the last. Those in front had reached the hills and the rock shapers were busy at work to shape a passage way and safe caverns for the elves to hide in. This knowledge had been sent to all those still walking to the haven by Fletch's sending.
They had started out in the morning, and now in the late afternoon the dark storm clouds had rolled in, yet no rain had fallen. The wind was picking up and there were rumbles of thunder from the west.
" I am all right, Jolt. Salah is not a burden to carry. Besides you have enough of your own. Go on ahead, I'll be fine." Replied Skysinger to Jolt's offer to carry Salah.
As the trio continues following the path of the others to the south east, Jolt and Skysinger scented on the wind a musky smell, one Jolt had only smelled a few times before when dealing with the peaceful humans native to the plains. Skysinger looked to Jolt sending to her. *We are overtaken and discovered. We must find what shelter we can to hide and hope they pass us by.* Then Skysinger sent to Fletch her lifemate, *Beloved, we have been over taken by the humans. You must hurry with the rock shapers shelters. We will hide as best we can.*
Jolt scanned around them looking for a place to hide, not too far away but not too close either was a formation of granite rocks long weathered and rounded jutting up from the savanah around them. They became more prevalent as one got closer to the rocky hills. Jolt pointed it out to her mother and they both started off towards it quickly as they could. Jolt stopped briefly and looked behind them to see humans closing with them, still out of bow range. A Sending from Fletch was received by them. *Find shelter! I am sending Eska, Verge, Dinn, Kendira, Peak, Rustle, Mekleet, Jura, Cappi, Spinner, and Sprint to aid you against the humans.* Mekleet was her older (half-)brother by Felt and Starmist, and was a budding healer just coming into his own magic. The rest were the the fastest runners as well as some of the strongest fighters with bow, spear, and knife.
It eased Jolt's mind that help was coming. She sent back to those coming to defend them, and to Fletch, their location. *This is where we are taking shelter, hurry the humans are closing in on us.* She sent that as she and Skysinger reached the large boulder field surrounding the outcropping. A few small tree dotted the area but mostly the grass and scrub covered the land here, dry and sere and waving madly in the gusting wind. As they moved into the outcropping the giant slabs of rounded stone loomed above them and cracks caused by millions of years of weathers had formed a labyrinthine maze of cavities and passageways. Skysinger wormed her way carefully into the heart of these. Jolt on the other hand climbed up to the top to gain a better vantage point of both the humans and those elves sent to help them. Looking both west and then southeast she spotted both groups the humans were much closer and moving fast, eating up distance at a quick jog. They trampled the dry vegetation as they neared the rocks.
Suddently Skyfire lit the landscape in stark relief. The resultant BOOM startling all three groups, Jolt ducked involuntarily, she needed to get down from this height before she got struck. So down she clambered and moved towards the humans and the edge of the large stones. She intended to confront them, see if she could deter as many of them from advancing until the reinforcements arrived. More skyfire arced over head from cloud to cloud and she could hear it singing in her veins. She stopped and looked up. Something new was visible to her eyes. By whatever means of her magic made it possible she could see the lines of force, or the energy paths, before they discharged from cloud to cloud and even from cloud to ground.
Jolt felt the tingling that accompanied her use of her magic to create sparks and the skyfire balls she made. She could see the blue-white sparks gather and dance along her body There was more energy here to tap into that she had ever used or felt before. 'If only she could direct it against the humans, but how?'
As her mind raced to find a solution, she noticed a build up of potential, a sourness she could almost taste in her mouth, building up around a stunted tree not far from her. A skyfire bolt slammed into the tree causing it to explode from the water in it instantly transforming to steam. The sound shock wave bowled her over onto her ass, knocking both her bow and staff from her, and knocking the breath out of her. She'd been thrown a few feet back from the strike and had slammed back first into one of the outcrop's titanic stones. The scattered bit and pieces along with the stump were burning or smoking, bending and guttering from the wind.
Jolt got up slowly, her back sore but undamaged because of her pack. She could feel more sourness building in the ground around her and out on to the plains and behind her in the rocks. 'Could she move that sourness towards the humans? Use it to summon the skyfire to strike among them or even hit them? She had to try.' The rescue party was still not close enough to stop the humans. She focused on the field lines in the ground and tried to bend them with her magic. It was slow going but they did move. She strained as hard as she could groaning in pain as her nose began to bleed, her free hair standing up, a glowing nimbus of light surrounded her body in an electric aura of sparks. Legs spread wide, her stance that of a half crouch, her arms extended before her, arcs of electricity arcing and popping down her forearms to her hands.
She pushed the sourness in the ground moving it towards the humans closest to her. She molded it forcing it higher and higher with her magic, her skin burning in places where strong zaps of electricity danced around her and hit her body. She winced in pain , and let out a scream as skyfire blasted down to the leader line she had forced upwards to the sky, calling down a positively charged bolt to completing the circuit.
SSSSCCCHHHRRRAAAAAAAAAAAKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK-BBBBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!
Skyfire crashed down upon the humans in the front lines, many of them blasted off their feet, a few killed instantly, many of those affected injured severely, and groaning in pain. Those humans in the back rows stopped, a few pulled something from their sides, something metal, pointing them at her. The humans were shouting and running around in confusion, though there were some who kept their heads about them. Jolt heard them yelling to one another, <Shoot the Skydemon! Kill her!> Those with the small metal things in their hands pointed them at her and they too cracked like thunder propelling some kind of metal stones at her. She dodged, but was hit in the leg above her knee by one of the projectiles. She staggered and her control over he magic was lost, as she fell down to the ground flat on her belly. She could taste the sourness growing from where she was on the ground moving outwards to the humans.
Those who had fired were doing something to those metal things (reloading them). All she knew what they needed to be stopped. He magic surged with the pain she was feeling, each beat of her heart pumping her life blood out of her through the wound. She had to stop them save her mother and little sister. She had to even if it killed her doing it. Jolt sent an open sending to her tribe. *Help me! Lend me your strength, your magic. I must stop the humans! PLEASE! HELP ME!* And instantly in return she felt all her tribe's minds join with hers in support and love, seeing what she needed through her eyes and heart.
Bolstered by their love and magic she reached out one last time towards the humans through the electrical potential in the ground building it quickly. She released it letting the sending link drop to shield her tribe mates of this horror, this massacre about to happen. As she looked up from her prone position to witness the end of the humans by her own magic. She had summoned down a wall of sheet lightning, long enough to encompass the line of humans strung out before her and as she watched it traveled away from her hitting each human as it passed them by frying them where they stood, scorching them in crackling energy of heat and electrical fire. A plasma storm. In her so doing all the grasses and dried plant life burst into flames. The sheet lightning flickered out, gone. A wild fire was born of immense size and power fanned by the storm winds. Now she was in danger from this fire. She crawled backwards as fast as she could, hindered by her leg wound.
All of a sudden Mekleet, Eska, and Spinner were there beside her Eska and Spinner lifting and carrying her to the rock maze, Mekleet working his healing on her leg as they went. The other rescue party members had gotten to her mother and Salah and were already on their way back to the rock hills. Eska told Jolt of these events then she lapsed into unconsciousness. Her mother and sister, safe!
10080 AL
Jolt's skyfire caused scars resisted Mekleet's healing touch, though her leg wound had long since been healed by him. The plains fire she had caused had raged for days, the storm above them had also raged as well. Eights of days passed before both storm and fire had spent themselves out. Her mother had been unable to sing up any rain to douse the fires. Several eights of days travel from the rock hills had been laid bare, the plains had been scorched deep into the earth killing root and seed. Only now three turns of the season later was any green thing returning along the fringes of the burn, all large animals shunned the area still. That first winter after the humans attacked, was a hungry and bitter one, colder than in the past. Several elves had died from hunger and despair. That spring the tribe moved out in search of better hunting and camping. Eventually they found it, and life for the tribe returned to normal.
Jolt was horrified at what she had done. Not just to the humans but by reaching out to her people for their magic she placed them squarely among the guilt of what she did to the humans. Burned alive. She could still hear their screams. Even though she had broken the connection to the rest of the tribe before she struck, and shielding them from what she experienced, The rescue party and her mother had seen and felt it, and the Elders had insisted they share what she had done with their magic to the humans. She was told not to use her magic. Not for forever, but until the Elders felt she was more mature in mind to start practicing again. What scared her the most was not the wound the humans had given her from a distance, but that it had broken her concentration and allowed her magic to control her instead.
Jolt knew that this was the most dangerous part of her magic, that it could overwhelm her and work on its own through her. Putting whoever was near in danger. She needed to train, to work on her control, so such devastation could not happen a second time. But she was forbidden to use her magic. She resolved to leave her tribe, and seek her own way in the world. Training herself as see saw fit, far away from those she loved and could kill with just a moments lapse in focus. In secret she stored up food she had hunted and gathered. She set aside furs and leathers she had worked upon herself. Caching them not in the camp but nearby. She did all of these things alone now, not that her friends or family didn't want her company, she didn't want to harm them. So she kept her distance from them and other tribe mates.
When she felt she was as prepared as she could be with stored food and goods to trade in furs and leathers, she loaded up her pack and set off alone on to the plains leaving her past and tribe behind. She went unnoticed as being missing for a few days and was able to make a good distance from them. She was startled when days later she felt a lock send touching her mind. She didn't respond, but she listened, and tears rolled down her face. **Jolt. No one can find you. Are you hurt? You are my daughter born of recognition, your father and I would know if your spirit had been set free, and we cannot find it. We suspect you have left to protect the tribe. I know you have been lonely, and your self imposed isolation hasn't helped. There are those in the tribe who fear you and what you can do, yet we all still love you. Dearest daughter do what you must, and remember you have a home among us if you ever wish to return. I understand what a magic can do to one who cannot let is sing in their mind and spring forth into the world. Train, learn control. Be careful.** The last thing her mother sent to her an a feeling of all engulfing love. And she was gone from Jolt's mind.
'Mother, I will return one day. When I am no longer a danger to others or myself.' Jolt silently promised herself. She shoulder her pack, checked her things she was carrying and set off at an easy to maintain jog, heading westerly.
10,080 AL through present
Jolt had traveled south and west further than she had expected due to many humans moving about across the lands, stirred up by the Junnsmen activities. Over many years she stayed moving, hiding from and avoiding the humans who seemed angry, even those she knew to have been friendly in the past to the Plains Runners, were agitated. So not taking any chances she continued west towards a distant mountain range. As she traveled the land got drier, the vegetation becoming more desert like as she entered the rain shadow of the mountains. Animals too appeared more adapted to the drier conditions she was encountering.
Reaching further south than any Plains Runner had before, she felt the urge to head up into the mountains, where she could see clouds forming over the peaks and dropping their rain, skyfire strikes could also be seen among the peaks. She came across a small river coming down out of the mountains and decided to follow it back to its source. The river showed promise of more vegetation and thus game to hunt and plants to harvest. As she rose in height up the valley following the river as it narrowed to a wide stream. Oddly there were no signs of humans here, nor Elves, nor even Diggers, who might be hidden beneath the rocky ground.
Eventually, she was able to make her way deep into the mountains, finding a hidden valley wherein her stream began from a spring and cascaded down a tall cliff unclimable by humans, but only slightly difficult for a lone elf to traverse the cliff face. Jolt was able to find a deep overhang she used to set up a shelter for herself. She lived there some thirty turns of the seasons, living alone practicing her magic with a little success in controlling it. She could now kill small animals when hunting, and could even stun a medium sized one on a good day.
Over the years she explored the area around her campsite. It felt odd to her to stay in an area for so long a time without moving on. The Plains Runners were semi nomadic, and this staying in one place for years at a time was unusual for her. On one of her exploratory excursions
she went deep into the mountains and found what appeared to be a gap between two mountains and there were no mountains on the other side. She returned to her camp under the overhang packed up her things and headed out to see what was on the other side of that gap.
Felt and a few others of the Plains Runners were out gathering the shed animal fur of the Brow Horns. Shed due to the arrival of the warmer weather now that mid spring was here and the last of the snow long since melted. Last years scrub brush made for good catches for the fur shed by the large bovines. The elves were widely spaced as they crisscrossed this area of the vast plains. Some were gathering tubers and fresh greens, and others hunting for small game with sling and stone, while most were collecting the warm winter fur to be made into felt, by Felt. He had discovered the process of using water to mat the hairs together to form thick slabs of the stuff to make warm things. He reasoned if the hair kept the big beasts warm in very cold winters it would keep an elf warm too. The felt was used for clothing and for the sides and tops of the yurts. Yurts were easy to set up tent like temporary structures of bound frames made from wood and long animal bones or tusks and then covered in the felt making enclosing walls and roof. The yurts were transportable once broken down for the nomadic elves that dwelt on the plains.
Among the group was Skysinger, the storm caller, whose magic helped her bring forth the gentle rains that brought forth new growth of plants on the plains, and thus the animals that depended on them for food. She too was collecting the animal fur, but she was also looking at the sky and the potential for clouds over the next few days. She hoped that if conducive she could sing her magic to bring forth the rains to encourage new growth of the grasses for the roaming herds, and thus bring food for the Plains Runners.
Felt looked up from his back bending work of collecting the shed animal furs, and looked around at the other elves around him. He saw Skysinger off a ways and she was singing her magic into life, summoning the clouds to start a gentle rain. Usually she waited until all the elves were back at the camp and inside the yurts, to do her rain singing magic. He tried to send to her, but got no response from her as she was too deep into her trance. He started walking over to her to ask her why she was doing this now. As he moved towards Skysinger, he sent to the scattered elves on the open plain around him, *Something is not right, Skysinger is doing a rain calling. Get back to the camp as fast as you can, take cover.* The wind started picking up coming in waves of breezes, warm and moist, and then getting stronger as gusts, lifting up dry dust and the smell of pollen and far off rain getting nearer. The closer he got to her, the more fierce the winds became and more flotsam was picked up into the wind, now even more heavy with the scent of rain.
Felt knew he should be running back to the camp to seek shelter himself, but he was drawn to Skysinger and, for her, her odd behavior. He received a sending from the others that they had made it safely back to camp. One worry aswaged, he continued on towards Skysinger and the going got even more difficult from the weather worsening. She was standing facing away from him the whole time he approached her. Contrary to custom to never touch one doing magic, he grabbed both her shoulders and spun her around to face him as he lock sent to her **You must stop...** His sending trailed off unfinished as his eyes met hers, and soul met soul. Recognition! Here now amid this oncoming vicious storm?
Thunder rumbled in the distance. And the two stood facing each other. Succumbing to the irresistible biological impulse to mate over took them. They removed their clothing, safe in the center of the storm's vortex. Skyfire lashed across the darkly clouded sky, clouds flying faster than thought possible. As they embraced and consummated their desires, the rain came pouring down upon them both, the winds ripping around them taking their discarded clothing, yet leaving the pair in a calm eye of this storm. As they joined and neared final release and the creating of a new elfin life, skyfire struck all around them scorching the earth. The two were oblivious to what was raging around them, Hail started raining down, but avoided striking them. Together in orgasm, lock sending to each other, sharing each other's pleasures with the other, building and increasing their own by doing so in a feed back loop. The rain and hail came passing over and around them in sheets. A final crescendo passed between the two, and the skyfire again struck the ground around them both. Then everything storm-wise ended. As the two came back to themselves, they smiled at each other, looked for their now gone clothing, stolen by the storm, and both knew their daughter Jolt had been conceived. They walked slowly, energy spent, back to the camp. They heard voices of other elves calling their names in worry, sendings too came their way, yet they could not answer them due to physical and mental exhaustion. Those searching for them, eventually spotted them cresting a small rise, and ran to them in astonishment they had survived such a storm, and doubly surprised when they realized this was a recognition like no other among the Plains Runners.
Year 9,960 AL
Eight and four turns of the season had passed for the tribe since Jolt's birth, and little Jolt was out walking with Felt learning how to hunt with her new bow, a gift from Fletch the master bow maker of the tribes. Fletch was her mother's lifemate, and was considered as much Jolt's father as Felt was, and Felt's lifemate Starmist, the tribe's healer, was as much a mother to her as was Skysinger. Jolt had older siblings by both sets of parents and she played freely with those of the tribe young enough to still have the leisure time to play and have a childhood. Plains Runner children had short childhoods, and were expected to learn how to hunt, fish, trap, gather plants, whatever they could learn to survive life on the plains as quickly as possible and to be useful in aiding the tribe.
"Father," Jolt asked one more of her endless questions to her patient sire, "Will mother be singing up the rain soon again? I like it when the rains come." Felt smiled at the memory of Jolt's conception as he answered his daughter. "Of course you like the rain, dear one, It was during a storm that you were brought forth by your mother and I." Felt and Skysinger's recognition had become the stuff of legend among the tribes for it was like no other recognition in memory among them. "I like how the drops tickle my skin as it falls." Again Felt smiled at his daughter, reaching for her and lifting her up in his slender and strong arms to seat her on his shoulders giving her a ride on them, giving her a little tickle to her ribs. Jolt giggled in glee, then she tightened her legs around his torso, with legs locked under his arms, and hooked her feet behind his back so she didn't fall off.
"I can see farther from up here." She stated. "Good. Keep looking for prey." her father told her. "We should return to camp with something for the spit." The father and daughter continued on for a while without success, game, especially large game, had been becoming scarce in this area of the plains. They needed to move soon and let this area rest and recover. It was always good to leave an area depleted by hunting with a gift of rain. Skysinger was marshaling her magic and waiting for the right weather signs to appear so she could summon the rain from the clouds.
Still unsuccessful in nabbing something for the fire, the pair turned around and Felt let his daughter off his shoulders to walk beside him hand in hand, they returned to the camp.
Year 9,984 AL
*Eska, don't move!* Jolt urgently sent to her friend, *You are being stalked by a plains runner (cheetah like cat), coming up slowly behind you. When I tell you to run, run to my left side and I'll try and hit it with my arrows.* Eska froze in place, resisting the urge to look behind him. Jolt slowly drew back on her bow, arrow notched, a second arrow resting across her bent leg, ready to fire after the first was loosed at the plains runner. The fast cat slowed and stopped, judging the distance to Eska, and waiting for him to run. The cat crouched and prepared to spring into a sprint. Jolt pulled back her bowstring to its furthest and let fly, and reached for the second arrow notching it in place before the first arrow struck its target. The cat started its run as the first arrow neared its mark but missed. Jolt adjusted her aim leading the predator and let loose with the second arrow, sending to Eska to *RUN!*
Eska ran towards Jolt's hiding place as Jolt ran towards the fast cat, which was closing the distance rapidly. Jolt placed herself between the cat and Eska, using her bow as a weapon to strike at the cat's legs. She clipped it's shoulder hard and threw it off stride, and in the process she broke her bow rendering it useless for archery. The cat slowed and spun towards Jolt, letting out a snarl as it did so. As the two faced each other Jolt felt real fear for the first time in her life. Her body trembled and the hair on her head started to rise, tiny arcs of skyfire started to dance along her skin traveling down her arms towards her hands. She dropped the useless bow and brought her hands together instinctively, hands cupping nothing but the air between them, where the sparks gathered, joined, and began to form into a small ball.
Again the cat crouched to spring at its prey, this time Jolt. Jolt too was sizing up her threat, and the ball began to grow even larger to the size of a large egg. She felt her control beginning to slip and flung the ball with all the force her mind could project at the cat, catching it in the neck, singing the fur and burning the cat's muscles. The cat reacted with writhing spasms, and took off in a run away from Jolt who looked astonished at her own hands. 'What had she down? How had she done it?' Jolt stooped, grabbed her broken bow, and ran as fast as she could to Eska. Both still shaking in fright, returned to the latest camp of the Brow Horn tribe, to tell the others their harrowing tale.
Year 10,048 AL
Eleven eights of the turns had passed since her her father and her had gone hunting for the first time, and Jolt was a well rounded member of the Brow Horn tribe of Plains Runners. She hunted and fished the streams and rivers and ponds of the plains. She gathered shed fur in he spring and gathered what plants, nuts, seeds and roots were needed in the autumn. In summer medicinal herbs were picked and dried for healing uses. Winter time was the time of hunger for both prey and predator. No animal was shunned for food from the smallest rodents hibernating in burrows, to the large mastodons. Life wasn't easy but it wasn't hand to mouth survival either. There were hard times for all, and there were times of leisure and rejoicing as well. The long ago habits of the tribes' members had long since become ritual for these elves, to help give structure to their lives throughout the turns.
Jolt was experiencing one of these rituals now, and she was a recent addition to it. In the central communal yurt there were two hearths one was set with kindling and tinder ready to light and in the second were the last embers of a waning fire about to be doused for Daystar's Return. This took place on Midwinter's night every turn. At the height of the longest night's total darkness that would be experienced by all the elves there young and old, the old fire would be doused. A reminder of when they used to sail among the dark between the stars. This year instead of using flint and iron to strike sparks to make the new fire, Jolt would be using her magic to do the honors. At around a century of age jolt was considered an elder of her tribe now and ready to take on the mantle of teacher and guardian for the youth in the tribe.
The old fire was doused with some water, and smoke and steam rose up from the old fire pit. She was nervous, though she had been practicing, honing her unique magic, at times it was unreliable and failed her much to her chagrin, but other times with much rarity, it would get beyond her control. So far no one had gotten hurt and damage had been to mostly herself and the immediate area around her that was out of doors. She'd not used her magic inside the yurts often. The time had come for her to light the fire.
Her hands shook slightly as she brought forth the tiny sparks of skyfire along her body, dancing across her skin and clothing, arcing around her head lifting her hair into a visible glowing aura of bluish crackling energy. Around her she could see the light reflecting back at her from dozens of elven eyes in the darkness. As she knelt by the two firepits, one now dead and cooling, the other ready to receive the spark to bring it to a blaze. She brought her hands together before her face the electrical arcs skipping towards her fingers and palms. The now cold room and the arc light showed her frosty breath in the yurt as she exhaled slowly, as she focused her magic into her hands. The slower she built the magic the more effective it was and the better her control over it. A pea sized ball of crackling light formed between her cupped and twisting hands. She leaned close to the tinder material, fire fungus dried and powdered, fireweed fluff, cattail fluff, and birch bark shavings, prearranged in the fire pit. She brought the spark close to this material and sent the ball into it, willing it to burn the tinder to catch an ember. Finally a reddish glow was added to the blue of her electrical magic. She blew on this ember until it grew bright and bold, and then she released her magic with a popping sound, like that of a seed pod being roasted open on a hot rock. She reached for kindling as she continued to blow on the ember to coax it into a real flame yellow and orange, consuming the kindling and then the small pieces of wood added to the flames by herself. Then more wood and sticks were added slowly, one by one, by the other members of the tribe. This too was part of this ritual that each member added to the light and heat to entice the Daystar to return and bring its warmth and bounty to the tribes.
Jolt relaxed and sat back as the fire was now being tended by all of the tribe. She saw her Mother Skysinger smiled and nodded at her, as she too added her piece of wood in offering to the fire and the Daystar's return. Her father came up to the fire adding his own stick to the fire and reached down into the old hearth now cold, and retrieved a piece of charcoal from it. He took a small amulet pouch from inside his jerkin and opened it up, first he placed into it a piece of red ochre, also known as blood stone. He then placed the charcoal piece into the pouch along with a small raw nodule of flint. Next he placed a natural occurring bead of amber, and closed up the pouch. He strung a chord into pre-made holes around the opening of the pouch to sinch it closed and to use as a way to hang it around her neck, which he proceeded to place it so on her. She was now a full adult member of the tribe. Able to make her own decisions and to sit in tribal counsel. Help make a future for her people out on the open plains.
Year 10,077 AL
The grasses and bracken of the steppes were golden and dry from the now past summer as they waved in the gusts of winds heralding the change of season to autumn. Rains to come were on that wind as well as a scent not detected in a long time. HUMANS!
The Brow Horn Tribe pf Plains Runner Elves was quickly packing up their yurts preparing to move out to avoid the humans if possible. Eksa and a few other of the faster runners were out scouting to see where and how many of the dangerous humans there were. And to see which direction they were going. If the wrong direction and towards the temporary camp now being dismantled, they would need to be diverted if possible, or misled with false trails.
Eska and the others returned out of breath, and met with Fletch, who was now oldest of the elders still living. "Fletch, the humans are not a traveling band or hunters, they are warriors out to kill us. They have a banner with elf skulls dangling from it. They are headed this way and are armed with spears, nets, and some kind of new long dagger. They also wear hardened leather clothing that might deflect our flint tipped weapons. I think they are the Junnsland men that we have heard rumors of from those humans who live in peace with us on the plains. They number equal to all of our tribe and half again more. They are spread out a bit, but I do not like the look of them. Hardened men of war they seem." Eska spoke to Fletch as the rest of Eska's scouts caught their breaths.
Fletch looked around quickly at the now mostly broken down camp thinking of the lay of the land and where they could go to outrun these human warriors. "We must flee these men. Head to the rocky hills south east of here. Our rock shapers will have to make what shelter they can to protect us, hide us." Fletch then sent to his tribe in locksend. **Gather all foods and water you can. We must leave now. Our goal is the rock hills to the southeast, a days march or less from here. Hurry, times is short.** With that the scared band of elves started to march out in family groups, each laden down with what was needed for survival over the winter.
Jolt walked next to her mother Skysinger, who carried her pack and her youngest, newest born daughter, Salah, still too young to walk a journey so far. Jolt too had her pack on loaded with all her necessary belongings, plus food, and water. In one hand she had her bow and in the other her digging staff.
"Mother let me carry Salah for you, we're falling behind the others." A worried Jolt offered. Even though elves could cross the country and leave little trace of their passing, laden drag poles with packed up yurts left obvious signs of their passing through the grasses and scrub. As the land rose towards the rock hills, the tribe's going slowed. There were other stragglers ahead of them, but Jolt, her mother with her sister were the last. Those in front had reached the hills and the rock shapers were busy at work to shape a passage way and safe caverns for the elves to hide in. This knowledge had been sent to all those still walking to the haven by Fletch's sending.
They had started out in the morning, and now in the late afternoon the dark storm clouds had rolled in, yet no rain had fallen. The wind was picking up and there were rumbles of thunder from the west.
" I am all right, Jolt. Salah is not a burden to carry. Besides you have enough of your own. Go on ahead, I'll be fine." Replied Skysinger to Jolt's offer to carry Salah.
As the trio continues following the path of the others to the south east, Jolt and Skysinger scented on the wind a musky smell, one Jolt had only smelled a few times before when dealing with the peaceful humans native to the plains. Skysinger looked to Jolt sending to her. *We are overtaken and discovered. We must find what shelter we can to hide and hope they pass us by.* Then Skysinger sent to Fletch her lifemate, *Beloved, we have been over taken by the humans. You must hurry with the rock shapers shelters. We will hide as best we can.*
Jolt scanned around them looking for a place to hide, not too far away but not too close either was a formation of granite rocks long weathered and rounded jutting up from the savanah around them. They became more prevalent as one got closer to the rocky hills. Jolt pointed it out to her mother and they both started off towards it quickly as they could. Jolt stopped briefly and looked behind them to see humans closing with them, still out of bow range. A Sending from Fletch was received by them. *Find shelter! I am sending Eska, Verge, Dinn, Kendira, Peak, Rustle, Mekleet, Jura, Cappi, Spinner, and Sprint to aid you against the humans.* Mekleet was her older (half-)brother by Felt and Starmist, and was a budding healer just coming into his own magic. The rest were the the fastest runners as well as some of the strongest fighters with bow, spear, and knife.
It eased Jolt's mind that help was coming. She sent back to those coming to defend them, and to Fletch, their location. *This is where we are taking shelter, hurry the humans are closing in on us.* She sent that as she and Skysinger reached the large boulder field surrounding the outcropping. A few small tree dotted the area but mostly the grass and scrub covered the land here, dry and sere and waving madly in the gusting wind. As they moved into the outcropping the giant slabs of rounded stone loomed above them and cracks caused by millions of years of weathers had formed a labyrinthine maze of cavities and passageways. Skysinger wormed her way carefully into the heart of these. Jolt on the other hand climbed up to the top to gain a better vantage point of both the humans and those elves sent to help them. Looking both west and then southeast she spotted both groups the humans were much closer and moving fast, eating up distance at a quick jog. They trampled the dry vegetation as they neared the rocks.
Suddently Skyfire lit the landscape in stark relief. The resultant BOOM startling all three groups, Jolt ducked involuntarily, she needed to get down from this height before she got struck. So down she clambered and moved towards the humans and the edge of the large stones. She intended to confront them, see if she could deter as many of them from advancing until the reinforcements arrived. More skyfire arced over head from cloud to cloud and she could hear it singing in her veins. She stopped and looked up. Something new was visible to her eyes. By whatever means of her magic made it possible she could see the lines of force, or the energy paths, before they discharged from cloud to cloud and even from cloud to ground.
Jolt felt the tingling that accompanied her use of her magic to create sparks and the skyfire balls she made. She could see the blue-white sparks gather and dance along her body There was more energy here to tap into that she had ever used or felt before. 'If only she could direct it against the humans, but how?'
As her mind raced to find a solution, she noticed a build up of potential, a sourness she could almost taste in her mouth, building up around a stunted tree not far from her. A skyfire bolt slammed into the tree causing it to explode from the water in it instantly transforming to steam. The sound shock wave bowled her over onto her ass, knocking both her bow and staff from her, and knocking the breath out of her. She'd been thrown a few feet back from the strike and had slammed back first into one of the outcrop's titanic stones. The scattered bit and pieces along with the stump were burning or smoking, bending and guttering from the wind.
Jolt got up slowly, her back sore but undamaged because of her pack. She could feel more sourness building in the ground around her and out on to the plains and behind her in the rocks. 'Could she move that sourness towards the humans? Use it to summon the skyfire to strike among them or even hit them? She had to try.' The rescue party was still not close enough to stop the humans. She focused on the field lines in the ground and tried to bend them with her magic. It was slow going but they did move. She strained as hard as she could groaning in pain as her nose began to bleed, her free hair standing up, a glowing nimbus of light surrounded her body in an electric aura of sparks. Legs spread wide, her stance that of a half crouch, her arms extended before her, arcs of electricity arcing and popping down her forearms to her hands.
She pushed the sourness in the ground moving it towards the humans closest to her. She molded it forcing it higher and higher with her magic, her skin burning in places where strong zaps of electricity danced around her and hit her body. She winced in pain , and let out a scream as skyfire blasted down to the leader line she had forced upwards to the sky, calling down a positively charged bolt to completing the circuit.
SSSSCCCHHHRRRAAAAAAAAAAAKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK-BBBBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!
Skyfire crashed down upon the humans in the front lines, many of them blasted off their feet, a few killed instantly, many of those affected injured severely, and groaning in pain. Those humans in the back rows stopped, a few pulled something from their sides, something metal, pointing them at her. The humans were shouting and running around in confusion, though there were some who kept their heads about them. Jolt heard them yelling to one another, <Shoot the Skydemon! Kill her!> Those with the small metal things in their hands pointed them at her and they too cracked like thunder propelling some kind of metal stones at her. She dodged, but was hit in the leg above her knee by one of the projectiles. She staggered and her control over he magic was lost, as she fell down to the ground flat on her belly. She could taste the sourness growing from where she was on the ground moving outwards to the humans.
Those who had fired were doing something to those metal things (reloading them). All she knew what they needed to be stopped. He magic surged with the pain she was feeling, each beat of her heart pumping her life blood out of her through the wound. She had to stop them save her mother and little sister. She had to even if it killed her doing it. Jolt sent an open sending to her tribe. *Help me! Lend me your strength, your magic. I must stop the humans! PLEASE! HELP ME!* And instantly in return she felt all her tribe's minds join with hers in support and love, seeing what she needed through her eyes and heart.
Bolstered by their love and magic she reached out one last time towards the humans through the electrical potential in the ground building it quickly. She released it letting the sending link drop to shield her tribe mates of this horror, this massacre about to happen. As she looked up from her prone position to witness the end of the humans by her own magic. She had summoned down a wall of sheet lightning, long enough to encompass the line of humans strung out before her and as she watched it traveled away from her hitting each human as it passed them by frying them where they stood, scorching them in crackling energy of heat and electrical fire. A plasma storm. In her so doing all the grasses and dried plant life burst into flames. The sheet lightning flickered out, gone. A wild fire was born of immense size and power fanned by the storm winds. Now she was in danger from this fire. She crawled backwards as fast as she could, hindered by her leg wound.
All of a sudden Mekleet, Eska, and Spinner were there beside her Eska and Spinner lifting and carrying her to the rock maze, Mekleet working his healing on her leg as they went. The other rescue party members had gotten to her mother and Salah and were already on their way back to the rock hills. Eska told Jolt of these events then she lapsed into unconsciousness. Her mother and sister, safe!
10080 AL
Jolt's skyfire caused scars resisted Mekleet's healing touch, though her leg wound had long since been healed by him. The plains fire she had caused had raged for days, the storm above them had also raged as well. Eights of days passed before both storm and fire had spent themselves out. Her mother had been unable to sing up any rain to douse the fires. Several eights of days travel from the rock hills had been laid bare, the plains had been scorched deep into the earth killing root and seed. Only now three turns of the season later was any green thing returning along the fringes of the burn, all large animals shunned the area still. That first winter after the humans attacked, was a hungry and bitter one, colder than in the past. Several elves had died from hunger and despair. That spring the tribe moved out in search of better hunting and camping. Eventually they found it, and life for the tribe returned to normal.
Jolt was horrified at what she had done. Not just to the humans but by reaching out to her people for their magic she placed them squarely among the guilt of what she did to the humans. Burned alive. She could still hear their screams. Even though she had broken the connection to the rest of the tribe before she struck, and shielding them from what she experienced, The rescue party and her mother had seen and felt it, and the Elders had insisted they share what she had done with their magic to the humans. She was told not to use her magic. Not for forever, but until the Elders felt she was more mature in mind to start practicing again. What scared her the most was not the wound the humans had given her from a distance, but that it had broken her concentration and allowed her magic to control her instead.
Jolt knew that this was the most dangerous part of her magic, that it could overwhelm her and work on its own through her. Putting whoever was near in danger. She needed to train, to work on her control, so such devastation could not happen a second time. But she was forbidden to use her magic. She resolved to leave her tribe, and seek her own way in the world. Training herself as see saw fit, far away from those she loved and could kill with just a moments lapse in focus. In secret she stored up food she had hunted and gathered. She set aside furs and leathers she had worked upon herself. Caching them not in the camp but nearby. She did all of these things alone now, not that her friends or family didn't want her company, she didn't want to harm them. So she kept her distance from them and other tribe mates.
When she felt she was as prepared as she could be with stored food and goods to trade in furs and leathers, she loaded up her pack and set off alone on to the plains leaving her past and tribe behind. She went unnoticed as being missing for a few days and was able to make a good distance from them. She was startled when days later she felt a lock send touching her mind. She didn't respond, but she listened, and tears rolled down her face. **Jolt. No one can find you. Are you hurt? You are my daughter born of recognition, your father and I would know if your spirit had been set free, and we cannot find it. We suspect you have left to protect the tribe. I know you have been lonely, and your self imposed isolation hasn't helped. There are those in the tribe who fear you and what you can do, yet we all still love you. Dearest daughter do what you must, and remember you have a home among us if you ever wish to return. I understand what a magic can do to one who cannot let is sing in their mind and spring forth into the world. Train, learn control. Be careful.** The last thing her mother sent to her an a feeling of all engulfing love. And she was gone from Jolt's mind.
'Mother, I will return one day. When I am no longer a danger to others or myself.' Jolt silently promised herself. She shoulder her pack, checked her things she was carrying and set off at an easy to maintain jog, heading westerly.
10,080 AL through present
Jolt had traveled south and west further than she had expected due to many humans moving about across the lands, stirred up by the Junnsmen activities. Over many years she stayed moving, hiding from and avoiding the humans who seemed angry, even those she knew to have been friendly in the past to the Plains Runners, were agitated. So not taking any chances she continued west towards a distant mountain range. As she traveled the land got drier, the vegetation becoming more desert like as she entered the rain shadow of the mountains. Animals too appeared more adapted to the drier conditions she was encountering.
Reaching further south than any Plains Runner had before, she felt the urge to head up into the mountains, where she could see clouds forming over the peaks and dropping their rain, skyfire strikes could also be seen among the peaks. She came across a small river coming down out of the mountains and decided to follow it back to its source. The river showed promise of more vegetation and thus game to hunt and plants to harvest. As she rose in height up the valley following the river as it narrowed to a wide stream. Oddly there were no signs of humans here, nor Elves, nor even Diggers, who might be hidden beneath the rocky ground.
Eventually, she was able to make her way deep into the mountains, finding a hidden valley wherein her stream began from a spring and cascaded down a tall cliff unclimable by humans, but only slightly difficult for a lone elf to traverse the cliff face. Jolt was able to find a deep overhang she used to set up a shelter for herself. She lived there some thirty turns of the seasons, living alone practicing her magic with a little success in controlling it. She could now kill small animals when hunting, and could even stun a medium sized one on a good day.
Over the years she explored the area around her campsite. It felt odd to her to stay in an area for so long a time without moving on. The Plains Runners were semi nomadic, and this staying in one place for years at a time was unusual for her. On one of her exploratory excursions
she went deep into the mountains and found what appeared to be a gap between two mountains and there were no mountains on the other side. She returned to her camp under the overhang packed up her things and headed out to see what was on the other side of that gap.
pfew
I see, Thank you Gerlin I am posting a reply right now .