Myth: Seine Copyright 1997 Renee a.k.a. Alethea All "NiGHTS" characters and related indicia mentioned herein are copyright and TM by one or more of the following: Sega Enterprises, and/or Sega of America. Used without permission Dunamis, Alethea, Rhian, Talitha, Salpinx, Aldwyn, Nettle, Tarragon, Thumos, Pomp, Zephyr, Nikao, Kurios, the bakus, and related characters and indicia copyright Renee. This document may be freely distributed as long as it is not modified in any way. Kudos to God for lots of help in my writing Myth: Seine [For all of you who know a little bit about Japanese mythology, I think you'll like this:) Thoughts or inward conversations, instead of being in quotes, are now italicized. Also, it is possible for 'maren to dream. After all, dreaming is, most of the time, simply the processing of memories. Next, 'maren do not have to eat or drink to survive. They can eat or drink if they want to and there might be occasions where they need it, but for the most part it's not necessary. (How else can they stay so skinny? ;) Finally, 'maren do have necks and wrists, there skin there is simply a color of the electromagnetic spectrum that we can not see.] The Gao was deeper into the forest than he realized, but he did realize he was hopelessly lost. He stared up at the small, new, spring leaves, before continuing. Being on enemy territory was not making things any easier, nor were the massive trees and dense plants. A few Nightopians twittered in the distance. The Gao looked around again and spotted a small clearing. He headed for it rapidly. As he passed through the bushes into the clearing, a bright colored lump caught his attention. The Gao paused and looked at it. A human was curled up a few yards away. The Gao paused behind a rock and watched. The human seemed to be in deep sleep, which meant he was not dreaming. The Gao grinned. He crept through the grass like a snake. This human had three ideyas. wizeman had lost all of the ideya he had stolen before, and had begun to steal new ones to replace the ones he had lost. Ideya captures were out of the question. The rebels put a quick end to any they found, and so the ideya had to be carried back to the castle. Hunting ideya was one of the top priorities of the Nightmaren at this time. The Gao had no idea why wizeman wanted them, but he still knew it was an order. He never thought about questioning it. A large dark shape hunched in the shadows of the trees. It watched the Gao stalk over toward the human. Long claws slid quietly out of gigantic fingers. The Gao was only a few feet away from the human when something about the size of a 'maren fish sailed out of the bushes. The Gao only had a chance to glance at it before a massive paw-like hand hurled him against a tree. The Gao caught himself in mid air and screamed at the top of his lungs. He dashed headlong into the forest, not daring to turn around. He had only seen a glimpse, but he did not need to see any more than that. *** Jackle stood in the hallway dark stone hallway. It was early enough in the morning, and there were no other Nightmaren in the hallways. He looked out the massive, wall sized glass window in front of him at the early morning clouds of pinks and blues. A few days ago wizeman had called him into the throne room and told him to put a rumor in circulation, a rumor that another invasion of Nightopia was being planed. wizeman was certain that this information would find its way to the Nightopian army and ultimately, they would want to know more. They would send their spies, which the Nightmaren spies would find. wizeman was certain of that, he had the Nightmaren spies very prepared for this. Jackle was to find and capture any troops, which more than likely, would be sent with the rebel spies. He wondered how long it would be, before the Nightopian army took the bait. He felt certain it could not be more than a week. Jackle yawned and turned in time to see a Crewe Pole racing down the hall toward him. Jackle let out a cry of alarm and dived out of the way as the Crewe Pole vanished down the hallway. " HEY! WATCH IT!" He chased it down the hallway. I'm not letting you get away with that without a reprimand! *** Reala was flying along the dark abandoned hallway. He had trouble sleeping sometimes….a lot of times he admitted to himself. He looked around; he was alone. Reala shivered. He did not know if he wanted to be alone or if he wanted to be around someone. People usually annoyed him. Reala decide to think about something useful instead of himself. If he thought about himself for long he would start thinking about why he could not sleep, and that was the last thing he EVER wanted to think about. He thought about the thing that was irritating him the most. Although it had been awhile since the rebels that had invaded the castle had escaped, the event still annoyed him. It showed a fatal incompetence on the part the troops, incompetence, which he intended to correct. wizeman had approved and ordered that Reala was to motivate them. It was quite a difficult job. The troops had very little incentive, other than fear of punishment. They were given little and often treated badly. Reala had no sympathy for them. He had been through the same treatment, and if he could do his job well, then the other troops could also. A small Crewe Pole headed toward him. Reala slowed to a stop. The Crewe bowed. " What is it?" " wizeman has something he wants you to look into." Jackle slowed to a stop and panted. He glanced at the Crewe Pole and waited. Interrupting a grouchy, tired, irritable Reala was not a good idea unless you had a death wish. " Must not be able to sleep again." Jackle mumbled then chuckled. " Poor Reala." Jackle had no great affection for Reala. He would gladly see him sliced into little pieces and fed to a baku. He would even carry Reala on a silver tray to any baku that was hungry. Just wait, you're going to get it one of these days Reala. *** Nights was watching a few random Nightopians trying to fish without a river, pond, etc., and with a piece of cake for bait. He chuckled to himself. What goes through your little minds? Why do you do such ridiculously silly things? Are you trying to catch something...attention maybe? Have you ever caught anything that way? One of the Nightopians suddenly became bored and decided to cartwheel across the ground. Nights watched it. They would change their minds suddenly, like the wind, and pick up a new bizarre form of entertainment. Are you honestly having fun? He shook his head and laughed. He had found them and excellent form of entertainment. Right now, he could use distractions; the scarcity of recent skirmishes was making him slightly edgy. Nights sighed. Something was up. Their had not been one significant attack since the last battle in which he was captured. He didn't think wizeman knew about his temporary capture, but if he did, it would explain the sudden eerie calm. wizeman would be testing his ranks, trying to weed out the ones who were doing their jobs inadequately. That meant, calm as it maybe in Nightopia, Nightmare was in an upheaval. Of course, it might be something else completely. Nights sat down and stretched, trying to make himself relax. He was dozing off when a frantic looking 'maren raced past him toward the base. He watched the 'maren curiously, before following him. The 'maren landed and looked around the base frantically. " WHERE'S GENERAL NiGHTS!" " Here, what is it?" The 'maren whirled. " There's another invasion being planed in Nightmare!" Nights stood up dismally. " It was about time for this." He mumbled. The 'maren glanced at him. " Go call the high ranking officers to the council hall."