I have remastered the story as well, decided to go back and update it as I have improved my writing skills and the fact that this story is fairly important, it is the first story basically in their adventures as young kids, predating the time when Ion and Zephyr discover their psynergy powers (the original story will still be on the traditional piece submission so it is not going anywhere)
~ Ion was excited for today, he had been looking forward to it for a long time as he was finally able to go out adventuring with his friends again after a few months where he basically couldn't do anything. He had a accident while trying to practice some parkour were he broke both his legs, his left arm and gashed his head a fair bit, requiring many stitches and surgeries. But now after months of resting in bed and the long process of re-education to be able to move his legs and walk again, his bones had healed and his gash was noting more then just a little mark along with the painful headaches subsiding. Getting out of bed he stared at the outfit hanging off the back of his bedroom door, "I have been waiting a long time for this" Ion said as he pulled his clothing down from the hanger, he had picked it out a few weeks ago when his parents took him and his two friends out to have a fun day. Ion remembered Zephyr and Flint fighting over turns to push the wheelchair he was forced to use at that time, as while his legs were mostly healed and he could walk a bit thanks to the physical therapy re-education he was going through, but the fact that they would be out for the whole day, it was safer for him to be wheeled around in the chair. Then a few days ago, at his last doctor's appointment Ion was given the ok to walk or run as much as he wanted and he was ecstatic for that news, freedom from the chair which he had to use for so long, all the hard work he put in to walk again paying off as all he wanted to do was move around again on his own, without the help of any equipment. With his new clothing on, Ion turned his attention to the new pair of boots sitting beside the doorway, Flint had these made for him as a recovery present, they were modeled after the standard boots his tribe was know to wear, but Flint added a bit of flair to Ion's as to make it more customized and personal for him, getting inspired by Ion's accent colour and the colour Ion was known to wear most of the time. Fully dressed, Ion looked into the mirror, seeing just how everything fitted on him, "Perfect? Not quite yet" he declared as he grabbed his trusty little sword from against the wall and attached it to the magnet on the back of his chest strap. With the warmer weather due to it being the middle of the summer now, a lot of the outer areas in the valleys and the forests outside of Eios had small beasts running about and they were know to attack anyone who would come near, having a weapon on had was needed, even if you didn't go too far outside the city's walls. Ion had shown some natural talent for the sword from a young age and to encourage him on continuing to practice, develop and hone his abilities, his father had one made for him, modeled a bit after his but scaled down in size and weight so it would not overburden Ion's smaller frame. Then after learning about some of the archery practice Ion had been doing with Flint under the watchful eyes of the fennec tribe's archers, Ion's father decided to have Ion's sword modified a bit while he was recovering, Ion was showing he was developing more talents and Ivan wanted to help his son keep up with them. "I can't wait to show this to Flint" Ion thought as he took one last look in the mirror and one minor problem stared him right in the face.
He lifted up the fur above his left eye, the mark from his accident, a scar that he would probably have there for the rest of his life, though likely his fur would hide it very well, Ion still didn't like the fact that it might show through on some instances. Luckily for him though, Zephyr had a fix for that problem, running over to his dresser, Ion picked up an orange poofy cap off the top and placed it on his head, making sure to position it in a way so the hat covered the fur over the the scar that he hated so much. "Now it's perfect!" Ion declared, being really thankful for Zephyr getting this for him after telling him about how he felt about the scar. Ion could sense Zephyr cared about him more then a normal friend usually would and with this gesture to help fix a minor problem he had was just another sign of that but besides all that, he really like the hat, it felt good on his head and was very comfortable, he could get use to wearing it a lot. Liking the way he looked and feeling good about it, Ion dashed down the large staircase of his family's estate like an unstoppable train and though the entry hall to find his father waiting by the door blocking his escape. "How are you feeling this morning" Ivan started asking, "sure you are up to going out adventuring again?" Ion, somewhat annoyed by his father's worries answered back with a groan "yesss", Ivan was just looking out for him and Ion knew that but after being restricted for so long, he was ready to spread his wings again so to speak. "Ok, but just be careful and take it easy, don't want you re-aggravating anyth....." Ion's father tried to tell him but Ion cut him off "ok, ok, I get it, won't do anything to overexert myself but I got to get going" Ion said as he was able to get around his dad and dart out the door, Ivan sighed as he looked across the gardens of the estate as his son ran off through them and off the property, while he was showing signs of a lot of skill, Ion was still a bit too reckless with the approach, something Ivan was now thinking he would have to continue working on with his son, but for now there was nothing he could do as he closed the door to the outside, Ion had been trapped for a while now and he didn't want to impose too much on him feeling normal again, he just hoped Ion wouldn't do anything too reckless right now.
Ion ran down the street full of excitement, there was a bit of pain his his legs but to him that was expected after not using them like this for a while, but that pain didn't matter to him at all, he was finally free to do the things he loved to do again, adventuring and training with Zephyr and Flint, there was still half of the summer left, he was going to make the most of it. Ion got to the main square fairly quickly, where Zephyr was waiting for him, Scythe in hand and dressed in his tunic with these gale symbols around the arms and near the collar. Ion had asked him once before what those symbols meant and Zephyr responded that they were the markings of the Windfox, to which, when Ion asked Zephyr what that meant, Zephyr told him that he didn't know, that his parents told him he would discover that for himself eventually, just like everyone else in his family had. "Nice seeing you able to walk on your own again" Zephyr commented as Ion neared, "and you are wearing the hat I got you, I just knew it would make you look cute" Zephyr continued, winking as he he said the last part which made Ion blush a bit, they then started their small journey to the city wall and out into the valley beyond. Normally they would parkour this part along the rooftops, but with Ion just coming off an injury and Zephyr still a bit shocked at witnessing what happened the last time they parkoured here the both of them decided it would be best just to simply walk the street instead. Getting past the city gate, it wasn't that far out in the valley where Flint's tribe lived, walking the path towards the encampment, Flint was waiting by the entrance along with some of his tribe's warriors, getting in some archery practice before they were to set off for the day. Seeing his two friends coming down the road, Flint waved to them which made Ion and Zephyr to start running faster towards him, as the fennec fully dressed in tribal hunter's clothing, complete with painted fur markings signifying him as a warrior, the youngest one to receive these markings parted from the other warriors to join his friends, Flint was a warrior in more ways then one and his tribe made sure to honor him for that. "Are you ready?" Ion asked as Flint pulled on the string of his long bow that was over his shoulder and tapped on his quiver overfilled with arrows, "sure am!" he said as the three boys set off farther into the outer valley, determined to adventure and have a fun time, something they have been waiting months to do again.
They encountered a few small beasts during their exploration, as much as they tried their best to avoid them as much as possible, some of them would attack unprovoked and the three of them had to put them down. Neither of them found it too difficult, with all getting in some experience with their selected weapon of choice, they made sure to spread the carcasses away from their path of travel, as larger critters would come down looking for food and doing this would keep those off their trail, they were not something the boys wanted an encounter with. Ion, Zephyr and Flint continued on adventuring for hours before coming across a small lake near a forest where they decided to take a small break. Zephyr took a seat next to the water, while Flint continued to practice with his bow, shooting some arrows into the nearby forest, seeing how much he could eye through the trees before making one hit. It was at this point Ion wanted to show him his sword's new ability, "Flint, can you come here for a second" Ion called out as Flint curiously headed the call, "but just stand back a bit" Ion continued as he twisted the sword's handle, causing the two sides of the blade to spring apart into a wide "V" shape, a reinforced string connecting both ends of the parted blade fell out from where both halves had separated. Flint's eyes lit up "Wow you sword can transform into a bow!" he excitedly exclaimed, "Yep!" Ion replied as he asked if he could borrow a few arrows, mechanical weapons like this were not too out of the ordinary, but Flint never saw Ion's sword do this before and he was excited to see just how good of a bow it could be. "You think that hunk of metal can beat sturdy carved wood?" Flint said with a bit of cunning in his voice as he handed Ion a few arrows, "up for a little challenge? A small competition to see who could fire an arrow farther?" "Challenge accepted!" Ion responded with determination. Both boys set themselves up at where Flint was first practicing, each taking a turn as they continued to out match each other, Zephyr just sat there and watched in enjoyment at the two in friendly competition. It all came to a climax when Flint shot an arrow deep into the forest, there was a long pause before the sound of the arrow crackling a tree could be heard, causing birds to quickly scatter to the skies above way in the distance. "Beat that if you can" Flint snarkly told Ion as he seamed confident that his achievement could not be matched. "With pleasure" Ion chuckled back, as he readied his arrow, fully pulling back on the string, he took a deep breath before letting go as the arrow whistled through the air and deep into the forest. Moments latter they heard a loud striking sound but it was different, it didn't sound like the arrows before that had hit the trees, then that was quickly followed by a loud, angry roar which made the three boys tremble in slight fear.
Thundering footsteps could be hears rushing their way from the forest as it was not long before when a large beast stepped out of the forest, blood dripping down it's face as in one eye it was blinded with an arrow sticking out, an arrow Ion had just fired at it unknowingly. The large beast set the boys in it's remaining eye's sight, growling ferociously as it charged their position, the three boys still trembling in fear, Ion was able to break the silence they all had, one simple word just came out of his mouth, "run!". And run they did, as the beast just continued to chase them, the boys scared at the though of what would happen if the beast was able to catch up to them, something they didn't want to happen, something they could not let happen. They continued running, outpacing the large beast as they approached another forest, "Go in to the trees! We can loose it in there" Ion called out as they entered the forest, hoping that weaving through the tall trees would throw it off their trail. It looked to have worked, as the boys were able to make a couple of turns and find a place to hide, from that position they heard the beast continue charging on forward not even noticing that they were no longer in front of it. Ion, Zephyr and Flint sighed in relief, taking a moment to catch their breath, but there was something off at where they were hiding. Looking around they noticed that bones were piled all over the ground, the sound of heavy breathing coming from almost all around them, "It's a nest... we are in a beast's nest" Zephyr said with fear in his voice. Slowly smaller beasts then the one that was chasing them, but still fairly larger then the small ones they took out at the beginning of their adventure, were surrounding them, growling angrily at the intruders in their home. The three boys drew and readied their weapons, "there is no way we can take them all out, there are just too many" Ion calmly called out to his friends, "but we can do some damage, we can push them back and create an opening to escape" he continued as Zephyr and Flint nodded in agreement. The small battle ensued, with each Ion, Zephyr and Flint being careful about how they would make each strike, doing some decent damage, as the beasts started backing off and before long an opening came as they were able to run away entirely.
The boys had a brief moment of relief before a loud, angry growl came from behind them, one they had heard not too long ago, the same one they heard after Ion had shot his arrow. Turning around, the boys saw that same large beast from earlier, the arrow still sticking out from one of it's eyes, it had found them again. Trying not to panic, the boys decided they needed to make some sort of stand, to do at least enough damage to slow it down so they could make their escape, back to Flint's tribe location, where he could rally the fennec hunters and warriors to take it down once and for all, they would most certainly get in trouble for provoking such a fearsome beast, but it was better then the alternative, that being dead. Ion, Zephyr and Flint readied their weapons once again, waiting for the beast to make his move as reacting would give them the best possible chance and when the beast did, the boys sprang into action. Flint took some high ground in the trees to quickly shoot his arrows from above, hoping to distract it enough for Ion and Zephyr to go in and attack it's legs, to weaken it's running speed. It was working somewhat, as the beast would flinch almost every time an arrow would strike it, leading Ion and Zephyr to quickly get a swipe in at it's front left and right legs respectively before pulling back to let Flint get another shot off, but as the fight went on for a bit, the beast started getting unpredictable. It would quickly and randomly lunge at either Ion or Zephyr, causing them to abandon their turn to attack resulting in not get in as many attacks as they needed to weaken it, while at the same time due to it's movements, Flint could not get a good shot off to help as arrows started missing their mark. With the tide turning against their favor the boys quickly regrouped and decided to change strategy, with Ion now having access to a bow due to his sword's new mechanical ability, they decided that Zephyr would go in for the attacks on his own while Ion and Flint would provide the covering distraction, firing arrows at it from multiple directions to hopefully confuse and stun it once again, they would have to use their parkour abilities to quickly move from place to place, an action Zephyr was worried about for Ion coming off an injury, but right now there was no other choice.
Handing Ion a few arrows, Flint and him shot off in different directions, taking to the trees once more, quickly firing an arrow at the beast before moving around to another position and doing the same thing, alternating perfectly with each other. This did give Zephyr the chance to go in on the offensive, getting in more damage then they were getting in so far during the fight, but the success of the revised tactics would not last long. While trying to move from one position to the other, Ion landed awkwardly on one of his legs, pain shooting up all throughout it, causing him to be immobilized. "Dam it!" Ion called out as Flint rushed over "are you ok, can you stand?" "No unfortunately, not at the moment" Ion answered, "here take these back" Ion continued, giving back the remaining arrows he had. "You and Zephyr got this, and if he comes this way, I will shove this straight through his mouth" Ion decreed, snapping back his weapon to the sword form. "Are you sure about that?" Flint responded, "Here I will leave you a few arrows just in case" Flint told him, giving back about a third of the arrows Ion had handed him before taking off to support Zephyr, who was now struggling to hold off the large beast just on his own, he needed the backup badly. Ion watched from a distance, feeling hopeless to do anything, "Dam these legs, why did this have to happen now, when my friends need help the most? Ion cried to himself as the battle raged on. Then suddenly with a swipe from the beast, Zephyr was knocked back on the ground quite a distance, as he started to stand back up, the large beast slowly walked towards his position, mouth gaping like it saw wounded prey, prey it wanted to make a meal out of. Flint rushed to fire as many arrows into the beast as possible but before long Ion heard him call out " Dam it, I am all out, Zephyr! you need to run! Get back to Ion's position!" But Zephyr didn't move, "Come on Zephyr get up, you need to get out of there!" Ion yelled out as well, trying to get his attention, but Zephyr just seemed frozen there in fear. Ion snapped back his weapon to bow form and fired all the arrows Flint had left him, "Shit!" Ion could be heard muttering as a few arrows had missed their mark, due to him not being able to get a good shot of from his sitting position and contending with the pain in his legs. The arrows that did hit though seamed to do nothing as the large beast continued to head towards Zephyr, both Ion and Flint were panicky screaming to him to get up and move, but it was to no avail. Ion, now feeling more helpless then ever as the beast was now towering over Zephyr, ready to take a bite, to end his friend's life, Ion reached out his right hand towards them in desperation and all he could do was yell out at the top of his lungs "ZEPHYR!!!".
Time seamed to slow down as something happened that no one expected, blue sparks started to emitting all around Ion's arm reacting to his cry, as what appeared to be a bolt of lightning shot out from his palm, striking the beast square in the head with a thunderous boom, causing a reaction of a few bolts of lightning from the sky to strike the beast as well. The large beast then stopped all motions, it's eyes gleaming white as it fell to the ground beside Zephyr, still stunned by what was going on around him, the body missing him not by much. Flint quickly went to Zephyr's side, getting him to snap back to reality as they both looked over the fallen beast beside them, it was dead, somehow they were able to take it down, no somehow... Ion was able to take it down. Zephyr and Flint then looked towards Ion in the distance, him shaking as he was looking vigorously at his right hand, also in disbelief in what had transpired as it tingled all over. Zephyr and Flint walked over to him but Ion didn't seam to notice and after a brief moment of silence, Flint asked him "since when could you do that?" "I... I don't know... I... I have never seen anything like that before" Ion replied back, still in full shock at what he was able to do, though as he tried again to see if he could conjure up some small sparks like before the bolt of lightning came out, but nothing came of it. "Well whatever that was, thankfully you were able to do it, otherwise... I would not be standing here right now" Zephyr solemnly responded, still a bit raddled from almost being eaten, being killed before continuing, remembering Ion's condition "are you ok, can you stand?" "I think so" Ion replied back, as he tried to to his feet, but as he put pressure on his legs, the sharp shot of pain came running back up them, causing him fall back to the ground. "Ion be careful, here let me help you up" Flint told him, as he knelt down and helped Ion get to his feel, allowing him lean on his shoulder for support. "Here let me help as well" Zephyr said as he let Ion lean on him with his other arm on his shoulder as well. "Thanks guys, I owe you two big time for this" Ion said, as the three of them slowly made their way back to Flint's tribe's grounds. "No Ion, it is us that own you big time" Flint replied back, "there was no way we would make it here if it was not for what you did" Zephyr added. "Ok, well we are all even now then" Ion responded with a small smile as the three boys just chuckled, the sensation of relief fully setting in after their hard fought battle, it took them a while to get back to the fennec tribe's lands, as they were supporting the limping Ion the whole way. The arrived well later then they were suppose to, as trackers from the tribe had gone out to look for them, Ion's and Zephyr's parents were already at the tribal grounds, since their boy's didn't not make it home yet. The three of them knew they were in a bit of trouble when they arrived, but at the moment the adults seamed more interested in making sure Ion was ok, with his parents taking him back into the city and to the hospital to get his legs checked out. Zephyr was taken home as his parents looked like they wanted to have a talking with him as Flint was sent to his tent where his parents wanted to do the same but elder Ember made sure to enforce to the parents to let the boys tell their story before deciding on any punishment. Zephyr and Flint told their parents the story of what happened, that it was an accident on how they got back so late and how it was thanks to Ion that they even managed to get back at all. Both Zephyr and Flint received a small grounding for their actions, but their parents decided to postpone it a day so they could go and check in to see how Ion was doing, after some rest for themselves.
The next day, Flint ventured into the city, making it to the main square where Zephyr was waiting for him and then the both of them headed towards Ion's family estate. They heard Ion was released from the hospital very early in the morning, with an injury that was not a serious as once thought. On the grounds, about half way through the gardens the two boys were greeted by Ion's parents, telling them that Ion was resting inside upstairs in his room. They headed inside and up the grand staircase, entering Ion's room to see him laying in his bed, his right leg and ankle bandaged and in a familiar brace from his last injury, propped up by a small pillow. When he saw his friends enter, Ion started to sit up with Zephyr and Flint coming to his side, moving the pillow he was laying on behind his back and sliding the pillow under his injured leg towards him, as his leg slid with him as he sat up. Ion was excited that they came by, with Flint first asking after getting Ion all settled up "how are you feeling?" "I am feeling alright, minor fracture near my ankle around where I broke it last time, but at least this time it is not fully broken, just went and over did it a bit yesterday, thats all" Ion replied "though I am not aloud to get out of bed for about a week, not even to go to the bathroom, as the doctors put... that thing... back inside of me..." Seeing that Ion was somewhat embarrassed by his last comment, Zephyr and Flint decided to change the subject. "Don't worry, we will be here to keep you company until you heal back up again" Zephyr enthusiastically said to Ion, cheering him up a bit. "So um... about what you were able to do yesterday... were you able to figure out what happened?" Flint asked cursorily to which Ion just had a large smile on his face. "I think so, I told my mom and dad about what happened and you will never believe what they told me" Ion enthusiastically answered back "And Zephyr, I may even know what the Windfox may mean as well" Zephyr's interest picked up at this statement, "really? do you mind telling me what it is?" "Well you see..." Ion started to say, as he went on to explain about the hidden mystic abilities his parents told him that everyone in the world had an adeptness to, the fact that everyone in the world was in tune with at least one element and they could call upon its powers as a mystic ability, a phenomenon called psynergy. Ion told them that his was most likely the power of lightning, and that Zephyrs was probably wind from the runes on his clothing and the part about the Windfox, though at the moment he could not tell what Flint's may be. Curious with this new knowledge, Flint tried to see if he could recall a time where something out of the ordinary happened, like what happened with Ion yesterday, though no matter how hard he tried, no memory came. "I am sure you will find out eventually" Ion told Flint as he seamed a little down at not knowing what his element was, but still, all three of them seamed excited with this new information, as the mysteries of their world started to grow again in their eyes and new adventure and experiences were on their horizons. Once they paid their time and Ion healed up again, they would fully focus on learning the mystic abilities each one of them had, the psynergy the was locked away within, the doors had open for Ion though slightly and soon they will open for his friends too. ~
It might be hard to see but the second version has a green light tint on Ion, Zephyr and Flint (like the light is reflecting green off the trees on them) the main image is normal shading effects on the 3 boys
Take your time, the story has some fixes in it (with better wording in many scenes )and more dialogue then from the original story (as now that I am better with dialogue I actually added the boys speaking more then before instead of just describing conversations without having them speak) but in base it is the same story, just worded a lot better in my opinion. It was neat to go paragraph by paragraph of reading both versions side by side after I was done with my corrections and see how I have improved in my skills so I am kind of proud of this one ^^
It might be hard to see but the second version has a green light tint on Ion, Zephyr and Flint (like
I am at the angry growl behind them after the nest. I am reading a little bit by bit. Will have to read again the old version if i want to do a real comparison but i think the pace of the story is better and you really feel the urge in the action scene. Love the bow contest that ends up in "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH".
I am at the angry growl behind them after the nest. I am reading a little bit by bit. Will have to
I see, just felt a bit weird with you not commenting for a while, was getting a bit worried, anyways hope you enjoy the rest of the story and I guess you got lots of other ones to catch up on as well ^^
I see, just felt a bit weird with you not commenting for a while, was getting a bit worried, anyways
Wow, didn't expect that ^^ Well thank you and there are a lot more stories now in the time between this one's posting, including an ongoing choose your own adventure story that is still in development
Wow, didn't expect that ^^ Well thank you and there are a lot more stories now in the time between t
