Weylin's+Gate

 “Nott, get back here. You’re incredibly frustrating,” Weylin Bothildr was in a interesting situation. Not only had his Céile scampered off into the woods without him, she had run off in the wrong direction. The task he had been given for the day was simple, minimum amount of intellect was required to wander through the woods in search of his mother favorite type of blueberries.

 So Weylin didn’t understand why Nott was being incredibly difficult to deal with. Normally, the wolf was perfectly content staying at his side, almost suffocatingly close. There had been many of incidents where he had tripped over her at different points and fallen flat on his face. Therefore this strange behavior was incredibly...well strange.

 “Nott, if you don’t get back here, I’m going home without you and you can spend the night out here alone,” He shouted out, shoving his way through the bushes. This was a pointless empty threat, of course, but he didn’t want her to know that. For starters, Weylin would never leave her alone and well, it was also entirely ridiculous to threaten a wolf with “you’ll be sleeping in the woods”. That’s where wolves slept, that’s where they wanted to sleep. Weylin wondered idly on whether or not he was losing his mind.

 Pausing briefly, he tore his bag off his shoulder and dropped it to the ground. He winced at the sound it made, realizing by the snap he had just heard he more than likely broke one of his whittling projects. Oh well, he supposed he would just have to begin again.

 Crouching down and flipping open the top, amber eyes landed on something that had not been there before. By the shape of it, the object looked like parchment.

 “Well, it’s obviously parchment and people write on parchment, it’s probably a letter. Was I suppose to go to the market and deliver it for mother?” Weylin used to never talk to himself but after one’s Céile day, talking to things that couldn’t talk back became a habit. The internal monologue of debating whether or not he was suppose to travel down to the market continued throughout the entire length of Weylin digging around in his bag. He had come the the conclusion that if Nott would not come to the sound of his voice, maybe she would be draw to the smell of deer. Well, it was only deer jerky so it wasn’t as good as actual deer, but it would have to do.

 Tossing the bundle of jerky his mother insisted he pack, he began the process of repacking the entire sack. Upon reaching the end of shoving everything into the bag, he looked up and was startled to meet similar amber eyes staring back at him.

 Cursing the very gods that had given him Nott, Weylin glared half-heartedly at the female and tossed her a slice of jerky to make up for it.

 “Of course you show up just as I pause. You know, you really killed a lot of daylight. I could of found the berries and been back to camp by now,” He grumbled to her and the wolf gave him that screamed that she knew he was lying.

 That was the thing about Céile, they were fully aware what you were saying, they just didn’t have the ability to speak back. However, the longer someone spent with their Céile, the easier it became to understand their gestures or looks.

 Let’s just say that Weylin had a fairly decent comprehension of Nott and her ways.

 As Nott drew nearer to Weylin, he managed to swipe up the jerky before she could clamp her jaws upon it. There’d be none left for the rest of the day if she ate it all now. Nott’s retribution was to seize the letter and prance far enough away that Weylin wouldn’t be able to capture it from her jaws.

 “Oh, so that’s how this is going to go? A hostage situation? Honestly Nott, you’re becoming too much like me,” The sigh was soft, but contained playful undertones.

 “One piece. That’s all you’re getting for the letter. The rest needs to be saved for later, understand?” Well of course she understood, she understood everything he said.

 Returning the letter to him, Weylin traded her a piece of dry deer and flopped on the ground to finally open it. He began to read it out loud to Nott :

 “My friends, <span style="font-family: 'Times','serif';"> I hope this missive finds you all as well as maybe expected. I know that many of your regions are suffering right now, with plagues and illnesses, famines and disease. This has not gone unnoticed, nor is it confined to only your region. You are not alone. <span style="font-family: 'Times','serif';"> The time has come for us to meet again, friends. You may not be surprised to know that I have been making contacts in all the regions of Pyrosium for some time now. In fact, my family has been doing this for generation upon generation, back to the beginning of our world. <span style="font-family: 'Times','serif';"> But now, the time of the Great Prophecy is upon us. It is imperative that we meet together to discuss this and that we set aside regional differences and animosity in order to confront the evil which besets Pyrosium. <span style="font-family: 'Times','serif';"> You must now find the Lost Gates in your land. Look for them in hidden places or in plain sight. There may be legends of these Gates or rumors of them. They may appear broken and disused or new and clean. They may be guarded by the stuff of nightmares. They may appear to be unguarded. Regardless, you must find them and then find the way to enter them. This you must puzzle out for yourselves, but come soon. We have little time to waste. <span style="font-family: 'Times','serif';"> I await you at the Forum. <span style="font-family: 'Times','serif';"> The Fox”.

<span style="font-family: 'Times','serif';"> The letter just caused more confusion in the young tribesman’s mind. He understood how the letter had suddenly appeared into his bag, the Fox had tricky abilities like that. At least, he seemed like he did during the first and last discussion that Weylin had, had with him.

<span style="font-family: 'Times','serif';"> “He really is a clever man, I don’t know how he does the things he well, does,” He shrugged and stuffed the letter into his pocket.

<span style="font-family: 'Times','serif';"> It wasn’t possible for Weylin to dismiss the thoughts that the letter contained, while he continued hunting down berries. The words just left him with a uneasy feeling. If the Fox expected him to do something, then Weylin felt that he had to do it.

<span style="font-family: 'Times','serif';"> “Nott, I don’t know what gate he could possibly want us to find. I mean, I only know of one gate and I don’t really want to go there. What if we go there and that’s not even the gate? No one leaves <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Dubhshlaine, no one. I don’t want to die because some silly Fox told us to go find a magical gate,” He huffed out a breath of frustration. Once again, he began to ramble on in compliant but was silenced by a sharp bark from Nott. Meeting her eyes, he knew he’d have to succumb to orders and actually go through with it.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> “Fine. We’ll go, but if we die...” He had the full intention of threatening her with some nonsense, but if they did indeed die, none of it would matter.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> The walk was long and rigorous, it ended up taking the pair well into the night to even get to the general area. Freezing in place, Weylin started to back up, running himself up against a tree. He had full intentions of running away, he couldn’t do this. If it was anywheres else, any other part of Corraidhin, he could do it. This was Dubhshlaine though, he had been taught since the day of his birth to never go there.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> “Nott, we can’t. It’s forbidden. If anyone finds out...” His voice was soft, the area making him feel like it was wrong to speak any louder.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> The wolf would hear nothing of this. She carefully latched her jaw onto Weylin’s wrist, teeth barely scraping the skin. Tugging, he was forced to stumble along until he had no choice but to enter Dubhshlaine. The landscape shifted around him, where lush trees trees had surrounded him, now stood tall yellow grass. It swayed in the breeze, kicking up tufts of ash every so often.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> “So this is Dubhshlaine, not as terrifying as I thought,” He mumbled to Nott, watching her release his wrist and run off.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> It wasn’t until he drew nearer did he see the gate. It was tall and made of the same sort of metal he had seen various times at the market. Black as night, the material almost seemed to shimmer in the fading sunlight. Weylin was entranced by the beauty of it, shining specks seemed to breathe life into the metal. They dimmed and glowed brighter every so often, in a rhythm that Weylin attempted to learn but could not understand.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> It was Nott who brought Weylin out of his thoughts. She had edged herself closer to the looming gate, something the gate seemed to not appreciate because it dulled a significant amount. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman Italic','serif';">Oh wonderful <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">, Weylin thought, <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman Italic','serif';">I’m now giving the gate a personality <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">. It was such a absurd notion for him, but at the same time he couldn’t argue that it didn’t have one. He felt as if it was calling him, luring him closer.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> “Maybe it’s just the letter. I’m probably associating that to this gate to what it said. It’s making me paranoid,” His voice shook as he said this, watching Nott dart off as he edged closer. He realized startled, that the specks weren’t just tricks of the light. They were amber colored flakes embedded into the metal,with the most prominent centered at closer of the gate. This stone seemed to hold it shut and shined brighter as he reached out his fingertips to brush against it.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> “Nott, get back here, come look at this!” He called to her and waited as she came rushing back to him. As soon as she drew close enough to touch, something strange began to happen. The ground seemed to tremble softly under his feet, growing stronger as the seconds passed.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> As the gate began to shriek open, he dropped to his knees the noise unbearably loud. Nott seemed to share his pain, the wolf releasing a mournful howl, ears pressed back against her skull. He drew her to him, sacrificing his own hearing to cover her ears, the noise finally ending after what felt like a eternity.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> The pair sat dazed, the once closed gate now open with darkness filling its mouth. Letting go of Nott, Weylin climbed to his feet and stared ahead.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> What was he suppose to do? He had opened it. The letter said to open and enter but he wasn’t so sure he wanted to anymore. The noise was bad enough, what if something worse was on the the other side? Would Nott and him make it back alive?

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> Weylin was unable to question this for more than a moment because Nott was already heading into the darkness.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> “Nott!” The boy snapped, following after the canine. His further thoughts were cut off as they tumbled into darkness. It felt as if it would crush him for a moment, but that feeling quickly passed.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> Stumbling out of their gate, the light of the Forum blinded him. Nott vocalized her own opinion about the sudden change. Letting out a short laugh as his eyes adjusted, the boys expression changed the wonderment. It was indeed one of the most beautiful places he had ever set his eyes upon. Each gate seemed to have it's own special quality, containing a certain king of beauty he couldn't explain.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> Weylin's attention was taken away from the majesty of the Forum when Nott growled faintly, announcing that the pair was not alone. Lifting his eyes, they landed upon the very man that had called him here.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> "Hello Fox".