[b]DAY 16: WOUNDED WINGS – TAKING AWAY YOUR ABILITY TO FLY[/b]

Enrena was a very young and rather cocky Winged Elf. But for a good reason, for he had showed promising talent in combat. He had still much to learn, however. He was an Edgerunner, just like his father, and so, he had taught some basics to Enrena. But only in action you can show your true skills. When the father had thought that his son was ready, he sent him to Battlemark Village for further development. That was the place where many young and aspiring Winged Elves began their journey. Folks in Battlemark Village would guide them and help them learn new skills. When they were sure that a young warrior was ready for more challenging tasks, they would then send them to City of the Plume: the capital city of the Winged Elves. There they would get more training.

Just like many other Winged Elves, Enrena would travel all around the lands of the Elves, honing his skills and helping local people. He stayed about a month in City of the Plume before he proceeded to the next place, which happened to be Bamboo Village. Although it wasn't that far away from his hometown, Dreaming Stronghold, he had never visited that place – or, any other places, actually. He really liked The Bamboo Forest of the Shining Moon, so he stayed a at Bamboo Village a little bit longer than intended. Eventually, though, the desire to see his parents again started to form, and so, he said goodbye to the village and then headed to his hometown.

Dreaming Stronghold was located in quite a high ground. It probably was one of the highest villages in Perfect World. The road to it was pretty steep and hard to travel on. But since the residents were winged, it usually wasn't a problem to them. With his black wings carrying him, Enrena flew to his hometown with ease, just like he had done ever since he had learned to fly.

After being away from home for so long, it was such a happy reunion for him and his parents. Especially seeing his father again and in pretty good condition too, Enrena felt joy. His father had served in Allied Forces against the Wraiths, but he had to retire after a strange disease made him weak. So, he had returned to Dreaming Stronghold and taught his son whenever he could. Enrena had wanted to become a worthy warrior as well and join Allied Forces in Archosaur when he would be ready. He heard the calling to a battlefield. Defeating dark powers and protecting the ordinary people was a life he had always found exciting. There hadn't been much to fight against in Dreaming Stronghold, so he had dreamt of a travel to the grand city of Archosaur. After his training in Winged Elf lands would be done, he would head to Archosaur.

But for now, he would relax and stay a little while in his home.

One day at dawn, Enrena had decided to have a little flight around Arrow Falls and Lake of No Worries. After leaving his house, he did few stretches and smiled at the morning sun. He walked through Dreaming Stronghold, heading to the edge of the cliff. That's where the Arrow Falls were, spitting water far, far below. The fall was pretty terrifying, at least to those who hadn't born with wings. But Enrena found it to be quite delightful and enjoyable. So, once again, he spread his black wings and jumped off the cliff, falling down with the stream of water. Down, down, down he went and before he hit the body of water, he straightened himself and glided below a rainbow that was sparkling above the water. With few flaps from his wings, he took a little more height and kept flying above the Lake of No Worries.

However, his good mood was soon ruined.

From the corner of his eye, Enrena noticed a shadow in the air, not far away from him. He glanced at its way – maybe it was one of the Elves?

But it wasn't.

It was a dark figure, radiating coldness. Enrena had never seen anything like it. It had wrapped itself in a black cloak, showing only its dark purple skinned wings and a pair of insect-like limbs. A thought crossed the young Elf's mind: was this a Wraith? It emitted some strange screeching sound, and even though Enrena couldn't understand it at all, he kind of felt what its intentions were.

It wanted to see him dead.

Enrena cursed a little to himself. He had left his sword and shield to the house. He wasn't much of an opponent without his weapon. He had no other choice but to fly around as fast as he could, hoping to lose that monster. But even though it was sort of bulky, it managed to keep up with him, much to his dismay. What could he do, what could he do… It was a possibility that he would lure it somewhere where it could be taken down… But the closest place was Dreaming Stronghold and he didn't want to endanger its people.

While he was thinking feverishly, the monster did something that would change his life.

Suddenly Enrena felt horrible, unbearable pain in his wings. Flapping them hurt like hell and he started to lose height. He tried to glide to the shore of the lake as well as he could, but ended up doing that clumsily, tumbling down. For a few seconds he was laying on the ground, panting. When he raised his head, he could see that the monster was flying above him and to his surprise, it was going away from him. Maybe it had thought that it had killed him successfully.

And well, it kind of felt like that.

Enrena cranked himself up, hissing from pain. He looked at his wings – and was completely horrified.

They were partly melted. It seemed like that the creature had spitted some kind of acid at him. Flesh was visible, and even in some places he could see exposed bone. The acid was still burning him, still doing its sabotage. Even moving his wings an inch caused him horrible pain. In disbelief, Enrena tried to withdraw his wings, screaming in agony. Then he summoned them back again. But they were still ruined, the acid still damaging his tissue. The young Elf hurried to the lake, remembering some vague mention that the water from Lake of No Worries was cleansing. He walked as far as he could, then beginning to swim when his feet couldn't reach the bottom anymore. Soon he realized that this was bad idea – the water possibly hurt even more – and he retreated back to the shore.

He didn't know what to do. To Winged Elves, their wings were their pride and joy. And now, his pair was broken.

Enrena retreated the ruins of his wings back, since the pain seemed to ease a little when they were out of sight. He glanced at the nearby road that led to Dreaming Stronghold. He probably had no other choice but to walk back home. Maybe someone there could help him.

And so, he began the hardest travel of his life.



[b]DAY 17: TAXIDERMY – TROPHY ROOM[/b]

It was such a wonderful night. The whole town had attended a fair that was hold every year when the summer was over and autumn had begun. Decorative lanterns were hanging from every corner, illuminating the paths of festive people with their warm light. The air was filled with delicious scents of the foods you could get from booths – there was something for everyone. People had dressed in their traditional clothes, robes, even the children who were frolicking around the streets. Everyone seemed to be in a good mood and full of wonder – especially after something quite magical happened. Many cranes could be seen flying over the town and also, some white foxes that lived in the mountains would come to the town and join the fair. They would roam in the streets and people would offer them food. Their visit was a blessing and people respected these creatures. All in all, this experience was pleasing for most.

And Ikima wasn't an exception. She had met this one handsome young man, Etbel, just two weeks before the fair. There was some chemistry between them right away when they had met. They had then spent time together every day, and, when it had been time for the fair, they had promised to celebrate it with each other. And what a fun it had been! They had visited many booths and tried together different delicacies, having great time all around. And when it started to be late, the full moon shining beautifully in the sky, they had retreated to a small stone bridge that was located a little distance away from the fair. It was calm and peaceful place. A narrow river flowed beneath the bridge, some pretty water lilies decorating the stream. The young couple stared at their reflection on the water's surface, leaning on the railing, side by side.

Then Etbel decided to pull Ikima to his arms, the maiden giggling a little bit. They were facing each other, staring at each other. And at that moment, they shared their first kiss under the moon. It was such a romantic moment, just like in love stories. When their lips parted, they looked each other in the eyes, probably being more in love than a little moment ago.

“I'm really sorry, but I have to leave”, Etbel muttered softly while gently playing with a strand of Ikima's hair. “Dad needs some help right at the morning.”

“It's okay, I understand”, Ikima answered, smiling.

A couple of white foxes rushed across bridge, stealing their gazes for a moment before they disappeared to the bushes. This made the young lovers laugh a bit.

Etbel gave a quick smooch to the maiden's cheek and started then going, waving his hand as a goodbye. Ikima stayed on the bridge, watching as the young man's figure vanished among the crowd. She just kept looking at that direction, holding her hand against that part of the cheek where the smooch had landed. Ikima sighed in a loving way, and soon after that she started going, heading to her home.

She lived in the outskirts of the town, so she had a little bit walking to do. But she didn't mind that. She preferred to live somewhere that wasn't crowded with people. 

Especially, because she had a dark secret.

Ikima was a hunter, and fairly skilled one. Her late father had taught her well. So even though she lived all alone now, she was doing fine. Of course, she was tending a small garden and was also breeding chickens, but she hunted for food and other things. Getting meat on the table was good, but from other parts of the bodies she could craft ornamental items and sell them. She was oddly fixated with death, had always been. And when she ended up living alone when her parents died, animals weren't enough – she started hunting for humans as well.

There was a locked room in her house. She would always carry the key with her, using it as a pendant. And in that room, she kept her collection.

After arriving back home, Ikima lit a candle to see around and headed straight away to the room that held her most valuable possessions. She unlocked the door and stepped inside the room that had no windows, and thus, was concealed from curious glances.

In that room was waiting seven mounted people. Most of them were young men, but there was two young women as well. These all had been her suitors, seduced and killed by Ikima. She had placed them in positions that reflected fear and despair, probably inspired by their last moments after realizing that she was a lunatic murderer. Ikima had also given some of them gruesome details, such as stitches, having some bones exposed and sticking out, one had withered vine of roses entangled on her arms and one young man had his eyes missing. To Ikima, this was art. Her passion. 

She walked further to the room, admiring her works. She walked among the displayed corpses, caressing them, loving them.

“Oh, my dear Etbel…” Ikima murmured longingly. “You will be fine addition to my collection. One day, you will truly be mine. Forever.”

She laughed a bit to herself. Then she slowly made her way out of the room, locking it again. And who knew, maybe the next time it opened up, it would gain one more inhabitant.



[b]DAY 18: CANNIBALISM – THE DEN OF A MONSTER[/b]

Two little fox kits were wrestling playfully in their cozy tiny nest. Their father had left to hunt while the mother was keeping an eye on those little rascals. Eventually though, she had fallen asleep as the kits had been a bit too energetic and bothered her the whole day. Seeing this as an opportunity for an adventure, the siblings snuck away from the nest as carefully and silently as they could, so they wouldn't wake up the tired mother. After making sure that they were far away enough, they began running and giggling as they made their way deeper into the woods. 

It was a calm evening. The forest was dense, so not much of a light managed to infiltrate through the branches of the trees. The only thing that disturbed the peace was the laughter of the fox kits as they were having an adventure around the woods. Bit by bit they wandered further away from their home.

Little did they know, their journey would end up badly.

The mother and father had told them that this forest was much like a sanctuary. There weren't much other predators around and humans stayed out of this place, so the forest dwellers hadn't fear them, either. Little foxes had wanted to know why it was so. Their parents had told them that in the center of the woods, there was a clearing. And in that clearing, there was a majestic oak tree, which was taller than any other tree in the forest. And under that tree there was a den of a monster. They told to the kits that this monster was so terrifying that the mere existence of it kept humans away. They also told that they should never go near that tree, because the monster would eat them.

When the two little foxes journeyed through the forest, they got closer and closer the forbidden place. Eventually, as they sprinted through the bushes, they ended up in the clearing. That was when they finally stopped for a while. They looked around, then gazing at the grand oak tree.

“Wow”, they said in unison as they raised their heads, examining the oak all the way to treetop. 

This mighty king of the forest was almost gleaming in the light of the setting sun. It almost felt like that it was more healthy, more alive than the other trees. Its colors were brighter as well. And when the kits finally let their gaze go back down, they noticed a nice, round hole at the roots. It wasn't very large, this giving to the sister kit an impression that there was no way that a monster could live there. After all, monsters are meant to be big and scary, right?

The sister smirked a little and looked at her brother, saying: “Hey, let's go and check that den!”

But the brother was a bit reluctant.

“I don't know… Isn't that where the monster lives?” he spoke.

“Aw, come on!” the sister exclaimed. “What, are you a chicken?”

She then mimicked the chicken's voice, which really provoked her brother.

“Okay, okay, fine!” he grunted. 

“Yeah, let's go!”

And with that, she disappeared into the hole. Although the brother wasn't thrilled about this, he followed behind.

Through a short tunnel the kits ended up in a pretty spacious chamber. It was pretty much like any other underground den, having few roots decorating the place. However, there was also one glowing crystal stuck in the wall, emitting blue dim light into the chamber. It was such a wonderful thing in the eyes of the kits, and they marveled the crystal for a brief moment. But then they noticed that they weren't alone. At the far end of the chamber there was another fox resting. They definitely didn't look like a monster. The sister started immediately walking toward the adult fox, the brother staying behind in mild fright.

“Don't!” he whispered to his sister, but she ignored him.

The sister had walked all the way to the resting fox and tilted her head a little.

“Hello!” she greeted. “Who are you?”

The adult fox opened her eyes and raised her head. That was when the two kits saw that her eyes were silvery. No other fox had had eyes like that. And as the silver-eyed raised her body from the ground to sit, the kits also realized that she had some odd vines or roots around her legs. She inspected them with her eyes for a moment.

“Oh, I have not met any younglings for a while”, she spoke with a strong but graceful voice. “Welcome to my humble home, dears. My name is Kirisnaka.”

“That's an odd name”, the sister blurted out, this statement making her brother quiver in fear.

But it only caused Kirisnaka to laugh a little.

“Perhaps it is”, she replied. “Now, what are you two doing here?”

“We were looking for a monster!” the sister told. “Are you a monster, miss?”

“My, do I look like a monster to you?” Kirisnaka inquired, smiling gently.

“No, you're like us”, the sister said.

The brother didn't like this at all. Sure, Kirisnaka seemed nice, but he sensed that there was something seriously wrong with her. They had to get away from here.

“Maybe we should go…” he squeaked and started to back off.

But when he turned toward the tunnel, there was another fox standing in the way, blocking it. His fur was oddly gray and brown and his gaze was cold as ice. And at that moment, the brother knew that they weren't going to get away from there.

As the sister was looking curiously at the new arriver, Kirisnaka quickly snapped her jaws around the fox kit's neck and threw her onto the ground. She bit her neck and then ripped a piece off of her throat, starting to munch it. The brother could only look, being utterly horrified and helpless, as Kirisnaka started eating his sister. She tore off pieces of flesh from the little fox's carcass, eating them leisurely, her lips dyed red from the blood of the innocent. Every now and then she would look the living kit to the eyes while eating the flesh, wanting clearly to send a message: you're going to be next.

The brother was crying from fear and shock and curled up into a ball, as if that would help him to protect himself. But soon he felt jaws in his neck and the gray fox started to carry him to Kirisnaka. He dropped him, right next to the remains of his sister. There were mostly just bones, pieces of skin and head remaining. Fearfully he faced Kirisnaka, who was just smiling.

“Yes, little youngling. I am a monster.”

Then she attacked with her jaws, placing them around his head. She bit hard and crushed his little skull. Kirisnaka dropped his body and started to tear pieces of meat from it. The little kit faced the same fate as his sister, being the meal for a monster.

They should have listened to their parents.



[b]DAY 19: SANITY LEAK – ROTTEN MIND[/b]

Yase was an apprentice of Ooro. He had sought this master of magic in order to learn more about these mysterious powers he had inherited. Even though Ooro had been a bit reluctant about this matter, in the end he had took Yase under his wing. With Ooro's guidance, Yase had got a good hang on his magical abilities and as a form of gratitude, he was the older man's trusty servant. The first impression of Ooro was that he seemed to be a bit grumpy and reclusive, but beneath the surface he was actually pretty kind and patient. Yase was really happy to have him as his master. Together they lived in a tower that was watching over the village of Gijow. They had been enjoying a quiet and peaceful lives, Yase learning something new every day. 

But nothing remains the same. A troubling situation had surfaced in Gijow and it was up to Yase and Ooro to do something about it.

There had been few reports about monsters showing up in the outskirts of the village. They had been creatures no one had seen ever before. Needless to say, this caused the villagers become quite anxious and worried. There were no defenders in this little village of theirs, except for few traveling warriors that were passing through. Some of them had already helped Gijow by killing few monsters they had encountered. But ultimately, the villagers sought help from Yase and Ooro. The older man had buried himself under stacks of books, seeking for even tiniest bits mentions and information about monsters, while the younger man had interviewed eyewitnesses what they had seen and collected descriptions. They tried to piece together what could be going on and what was solution for it.

Eventually they went to search for clues around the outskirts, even if that meant confronting these creatures themselves. 

It was this one encounter in particular that changed their peaceful lives. 

Yase and Ooro had been wandering around the borders of the woods. The older man had cast a spell that would help him to look for clues, mainly footprints, fur and scales and fluids like saliva and blood. Yase was walking behind him, making note of everything they could find.

Suddenly, they then heard a rustling sound, and both men looked to the direction where it was coming from. A black, quadruped creature was approaching them. It was partly scaly, partly feathered, and had monstrous claws. Its head resembled a goat and it had a long tongue hanging out of its mouth. It had eyes green like a poison and there was something very unsettling in them. But it was clearly hostile and probably wanted to feast on the men's corpses.

Yase had never before had the need to cast harmful spells. Yes, he had learned to do them, but this was his first time utilizing them. But well, he had never been standing on the way of a ravenous monster, either. He did the best he could and at least it seemed like that he was doing damage. Though, every little while he was just watching in awe as his master was doing such amazing spells. The monster also realized which one of the men was more dangerous and targeted Ooro.

The older man was performing spell after spell, trying to halt the monster. But the creature kept running towards him, unstoppable like a tidal wave. Though, it was seriously injured at this point. It almost felt like that it was attempting to bring someone down with it. Ooro was casting his final lethal spell and when the monster was just inches away from him, he unleashed his magical power, defeating the beast. However, before dying, the creature managed to slash him in the top of his head with its claw, leaving a nasty wound. And when it took its last wretched breath, it let out a noise that sounded ominously like a laughter. 

Perhaps it knew what it had done.

When the men had returned to the tower, Ooro had made himself a remedial salve. With it, he cleansed his wound, then letting the healing process begin. What he didn't know was that it wasn't just an ordinary injury. In fact, it was far more destructive. But of course, Ooro himself couldn't see it.

Yase could.

Ooro started to become forgetful. He would also often just stare into distance. Later, he would talk to himself – something he hadn't done before. Or, it seemed more like that he was talking to something, something Yase couldn't hear or see. The younger man became really worried about his master. Ooro also couldn't sleep well, this showing as dark circles under his eyes. Whenever Yase asked was he doing well, his master would just brush it off as nothing. Ooro became very distant and most of the days he would spend in the library, flipping through the books. But what he was exactly looking for, he didn't mention.

One evening, Yase was bringing some dinner for his master since the older man hadn't eaten anything during the whole day. Ooro was in the library, as usual, scanning through a book. But there was something wrong. As soon as Yase had found Ooro from between rows of bookshelves, the younger man noticed something alarming. The wound in his head was bleeding badly, but instead of red, the blood was kind of purple. 

“M-master, your head!” Yase exclaimed. “Are you okay?”

Ooro paused for a moment.  Then, very slowly, he turned his head to his apprentice's direction, grinning widely.

“Why, of course”, Ooro said. “I've never felt better!”

He chuckled to himself a bit and continued browsing a book. After a while, he would mutter something, but Yase couldn't understand the words.

The younger man didn't know what to do. So he just stood there for a moment, holding the food tray.

“Please, master”, he finally spoke. “Please eat something.”

Ooro looked at him suspiciously, almost like he couldn't recognize him.

“No, we don't need food”, he declined and shift his gaze back into book.

“Who are 'we'?” Yase asked.

But the older man didn't answer.

He was going mad, Yase figured out. It was like that purple thing in his head was his sanity leaking out, leaving only a rotten mind filled with madness. But what could he do about it? Yase didn't know. He was feeling utterly helpless. He left the library, taking the tray with him. His eyes began to tear up as he walked away from his master. He truly cared about him.

But what could he do?

What could he do…



[b]DAY 20: PASTEL GORE – WHAT A COLORFUL WORLD[/b]

“Hey man, try these.”

Ashina had got some weird colorful pills from his friends. They wanted that he would try them, but it was already late and he should be heading home already. He promised that he would take them later and hid them in one of his pockets. Hopping on top of his skateboard he then skated away. It was autumn evening and darkness had already made its return to the world after the bright summer. Ashina downright glided through the streets of the city, streetlamps shedding light on his way. He was traveling to home with a good mood, for he had been having such a great time with his buddies. Few turns there and here, skating through a couple of alleys and he was already home. He took his skateboard and entered inside the apartment building. After finding his way to his flat, he greeted his parents who had been sitting on the couch watching TV, and went to his room. He collapsed to his bed almost immediately, getting kidnapped to the lands of dreams.

The next day Ashina pretty much just sit in front of his computer, playing games and chatting with his friends. It was typical weekend day for a teenager. Then the night came and he was ready to go to bed, but he suddenly remembered the pills he had got. He dug them up from his pocket and looked at them for a while. Then he shrugged and ate a couple, figuring that he was out of harm's way in his own room. He waited for a moment. And another. But nothing seemed to happen. He didn't feel any different. He decided to curl up under his blanket and drifted to sleep.

Ashina didn't know how long he had slept. But when he woke up, for a few seconds he thought that he was dreaming.

His room had turned into a colorful mess. Some of his stuff, like action figures, were floating in the air. Objects with shapes like triangles and spheres would come out of the walls, only to fuse together with opposite wall. But the colors. Everything was so bright and kind of psychedelic. Ashina was in a happy trance-like state as the colors around him kept gradually changing.

“Wow, dude!”

He felt slightly lightheaded as he stood up. But he managed to stay balanced. That was when he saw a tiny unicorn galloping through the air and then disappearing when it hit the door. Wanting to follow that adorable tiny thing, he waddled to the door. The doorhandle giggled a bit when he touched it. But his mind was still stuck on that unicorn, so he ignored the handle and stepped outside his room.

But the little friend had already left him, it was nowhere to be seen. Ashina walked through the corridor, marveling his surroundings. What a wonderfully colorful world was! Hopefully the parents would see this as well! The boy felt a bit hungry, though, so he headed to the kitchen.

As Ashina came to the room he was headed to, he was greeted by a human-sized pastel pink bunny.

“Hello, my dear! Want to see something interesting?” said the bunny.

“Something cool?!” Ashina burst out, forgetting his hunger.

“Yup!” another voice confirmed.

There was a blue wolf sitting at the table, it had been probably reading newspaper. Ashina's gaze wandered toward the wolf for a while, but then he focused on the bunny again. It had found a kitchen knife.

“Look!” the bunny said.

Then it stabbed itself to the stomach. It cut a wide and deep wound, bleeding blue blood and guts were spilling out, being blue as well. Ashina was just staring in awe.

“Doesn't it hurt?” he asked, but was already reaching his hand to the wound, wanting to get his fingers dyed with blue.

“Not a bit!” assured the wolf. 

It walked next to the bunny and took the knife. With a swift motion it cut its hand off, showing yellow flesh and blood. The wolf grinned happily.

“Oh, I want to try this too!” Ashina said.

The wolf handed over the knife. The boy took it, maybe even a little too enthusiastically, and licked the blade a little because he wanted to know did the blood of those animals taste like fruits. And yes, they did. Excitedly, wanting to see what color his insides were, he also stabbed himself to the stomach. The speaking bunny and wolf were right, it didn't hurt at all. So Ashina kept slitting his stomach, mimicking the bunny and made similar wound. He was bleeding purple blood and his guts were purple too. He really admired the sight.

But then he started to get dizzy. He swayed a little, his vision blurring.

“I don't feel so well…” Ashina managed to say.

Then he crashed to the floor.

“Don't worry, darling! Everything will be alright!” the wolf said.

With these reassuring words, Ashina lost his consciousness and fell into some sweet sleep.