Post by Poupou on Nov 14, 2008 11:29:15 GMT -5
The sun was high in the sky, but it seemed like it would never warm the earth again. Dead trees, lakes and rivers trapped under a prison of ice, the sight was one of a deserted land.
Sitting alone in the snow, Kimo looked around, worried. His clan was dying from starvation. No food could be found, and with that neverending winter that struck them by surprise, before they even had the time to make anymore provisions, the supplies, who were supposed to last for a good while in case of crisis were declining fast. Twice now they had to cut down on everyone's rations. It had been like this for a year now, and it didn't seemed like it would stop.
The clan of the Tais was in dire need of help.
Kimo had been pondering for a while about a legend that his grandfather told him a long time ago, when he was still a Taigi. It was about another world, in another dimension, about peaceful creatures that he had supposedly met when he was younger. Kimo had always thought of a funny story that his grandfather would tell him to keep him entertained, and never truly believed in it.
Another world? Another dimension? This was just a bit too much for him to believe. He didn't have time to waste on such fantasies, told by an old Tai with alot of imagination. Didn't everyone from his clan said that his grandfather was not to be taken too seriously, that the old Tai was saying alot of strange things fulled with nonsense, and he had no way to prove what he said was true.
But today, Kimo was seeing his friends, his brothers and sisters, his family suffer and the old Tai's fantasies seemed to be more and more present in his mind. Especially one of the last things his grandfather told him before he passed.
'Remember that there will always be help for our clan if you need it one day. If you think nothing could be done, if you believe you did the best you could do to help them and failed in doing so.. then there is one last thing, as the clan leader, that you can do. Do not talk about this to anyone else. The balance between the worlds must be kept at all cost, and the less people to know about it, the lesser chances to be disrupted the balance has.' said the old Tai.
'And now, I will tell you my secret, Kimo. May you be worthy of such a knowledge, son of my son, blood of my blood.'
Looking at Kimo, he remembered himself at the same age. He was so full of energy at that time... it was also the first time he discovered about the other world...
'Poupou.'
'What is a Poupou?', Kimo asked, curious.
'Poupou is the one who will help you save our world if a disaster was to fall upon us.' replied the elder. 'You will need to go to the Moon Lake, during a full moon. In the middle of the Lake, there is a small island where you will find a stone shaped as a moon. You will place one of your paw on that stone, and you will say that name. But there is one condition...' said the old Tai.
'I would be ready to do anything to save our world, grandfather. You know how important it is for me! Please, tell me what is the condition!', said Kimo, wondering what could be the condition, his heart racing in his chest.
'When summoning Poupou, a portal will be created. Do not fear, it will not be dangereous or hurtful. You will need to enter the portal ... but.. if you do, you will never be allowed back into this world. At least, not for a long time. If you do cross the portal, and come back for a long period, your health will decline and you will most certainly die. This means you will have to make the sacrifice of your life here in order to enter the portal. This is why I said you can only resort to that solution if nothing else works.' replied the old Tai, his breathing starting to be difficult.
'But grandfather, this can't be true! I've been to the Moon Lake, and I've played with the stone and nothing ever happened to me! I don't understand why pronouncing a name could change anything to the fact that the stone is just a stone and nothing else.' said Kimo.
The elder sighed. He knew his last moments were close, and he wanted to make sure to transfer his knowledge to the next leader of the Tai Clan. He kept silent a few minutes, trying to catch his breath, panting.
'Just... remember.. Kimo... Do it for our clan, please tell me that I can rest in peace, knowing that you will take care of the land that saw me live and where I will soon return.." his voice becoming weaker and weaker after each words.
Kimo closed his eyes. He didn't want to accept that his grandfather was leaving their world. Looking at the old Tai, he nodded, his eyes filled with tears.
'You can rest in peace, granpa. I will do anything, I swear, to protect our land. Our clan will always be my priority. Do not worry anymore, I am here to take care of everything.' he whispered to the elder.
The time was running out, his rolemodel was leaving him behind. He was about to be left alone in this world, with the weight of responsabilities he was not sure he could handle by himself.
***
Lost in his memories, Kimo didn't see Mia approaching. She looked at him, not sure if she should interrupt his reflexions. The sun was declining now, leaving the place to the moon and the stars, her minions.
'Kimo...' said the female Tai. 'Kimo, we just lost another one..' she whispered. 'We are almost out of food and the babies are not even able to cry anymore, they are too weak. We must do something before it's too late. Do you think we should move to the south to see if we could find something there? Maybe there's still food down there.'
'Don't worry, Mia. Things are about to change, and soon, everything will be back to normal.' said Kimo. 'Things must change, and they will. I need you to trust me, Mia. I will need to leave you in charge for awhile, just the time for me to find something and I'll come back. I can't tell you where I am going, or what I am going to do, but I need you to trust me.'
Worried, Mia nodded. She knew she could trust Kimo with her own life, but she couldn't help herself from thinking about how strange he had been lately.
'I need to leave now, Mia. Please take care of everyone while I'm gone.'
Standing, he came closer to the female, nuzzled her and took off.
He had been running for a few hours when he finally reached the Moon Lake. Like all the other lakes and rivers, it was frozen solid. He started to walk across the lake, knowing exactly where he was going for having played there numerous time when he was still very young. He finally arrived in front of the stone, wich, for some reason, was not covered in snow while everything else was.
Looking around, he made sure he was alone. Night had completely fallen on The Land of Taiga now, and the moon was high up in the sky, at the same place where the sun had been hours before. She was about to reach the position mentionned by his grandfather during one of his numerous story-telling.
Placing his paw on the moon shaped stone, he looked around one more time. If it was not going to work, he didn't want anyone to see him do such a stupid thing while his clan was slowly dying back at the cave. Taking a deep breath, he pronounced the name revealed by his grandfather.
'Poupou.'
Backing a few feets away from the stone, Kimo looked around. Nothing had changed... no portals in sight. Frustrated, he shook his head. He couldn't believe his grandfather had totally lost it and told him lies. Decided, he went back to the stone. Placing his paw on the stone, he shouted with all his strenght.
'Poupou! We need you! Help the Tais!'
The earth started shaking. Trying to stay up, Kimo back off the stone. What was that light coming from it? All of sudden, the moon shaped rock cracked, opening more and more. In the middle, a bright light was shining. The portal...
Without thinking, Kimo ran and jumped into the portal, leaving his land behind, making the ultimate sacrifice to save the others.
***
Poupou was sitting at her desk, looking at old pictures of her stay in the Little Apple Heart Kingdom. With a soft smile, she was remembering all the good times she had and the friends she met.
All of sudden, the big chest in the middle of the room started shaking, and noises were coming from inside. Something was ... scratching? Startled, Poupou jumped on her feet and ran to the chest. She was not sure if opening the chest was a good idea, but whatever was in the chest was desperatly trying to get out. Maybe one of the cats had gotten trapped and now wanted to eat or something?
With precautions, she unlocked the chest. Then it all went very fast. Jumping out of the chest was a cat indeed, but that things was huge! Scared, she ran behind her desk, trying to figure out what she was going to do with such a big animal in the house. Why didn't she have a cell phone again? It would have come in handy right now to call the animal rescue. At the same time, Kimo was jumping around the room, throwing objects and books on the floor, destroying the couch, his eyes wide opened. He didn't expect to be trapped like this!
'This is not what grandpa told me about!' he yelled.
'Wait.. you can speak human language?' asked Pou, stunned. 'Are you from the Kingdom? What were you doing in that chest?'
Perched on the couch, Kimo looked at Poupou. Now that had stopped running around, he realized that the creature was no match for him. It had no claws, no teeth, not even fur! Whatever that thing was, it didn't seem to be a threath.
'My name is Kimo. I was sent here by the elder of our clan, and he said she was going to help us save the Land of Taiga. I am looking for Poupou. He said she would do everything to help us. My clan is dyin, and I need help. Could you please show me to her?'
Poupou looked at Kimo, her eyes wide opened. She was remembering now where she had seen a similar creature before. It had been a while now since he came to this world. Sitting on her chair, she observed the Tai for a moment. The time passed, and neither of them were moving, looking at each other.
'I knew another creature like you. You are a Tai, aren't you? One of your clan came here, years ago and he saved me from drowning. Silly me never learned to swim, and I fell in the river. But anyway, I am in debt and it is true that I promised to help him if he ever needed me one day.' she explained. 'But... I don't understand something.. Why didn't he came here himself seeking for help?'
'He passed.' replied Kimo. 'He was my grandpa, and before he went, he passed down his secrets to me. My name is Kimo, and I'm the leader of the Clan of the Tais. For almost a year now, a neverending winter has kept us from finding food, the rivers and lakes are frozen and our food supplies are depleting at a scaring speed. Everything we put aside, our provisions, that were supposed to help us go through the worse situations are now coming to an end, and my clan is fearing extinction if nothing gets done right away. Poupou, will you help us?'
'I ... I will.' said Poupou, standing up. 'Of course, I will. But I have a request first. I can't leave right now, I have... an important task to finish first and I will only be able to complete it in two days from now. After that, yes, I will follow you and help you save your world.'
Kimo nodded. He didn't know what else to say for now, so he just layed on the couch, tired. It'd been so long since he felt the warmth, and he was slowly drifting way, failing at keeping his eyes opened. Poupou sighed softly. She had troubles assimilating what just happened now. It was so early...
She walked near a wall, and opened a hidden door. She entered the bedroom, leaving Kimo to his much needed rest. It was better that she slept now, who knew where she was heading, and what would happen next.
***
Two days later, sitting at her desk, Poupou was looking outside the window, her head resting in one hand. The leafs had fallen, and Winter was fast approaching, bringing along with him his closest friends. Snow, Cold, and Ice.
'This is such a drastic change from Apple Heart..' she thought. And she was right, in the Little Apple Heart Kingdom, Winter didn't exist. So many things were different there, and while Poupou had spent alot of her time in the Kingdom in the last few years, it was time to move on and continue on her quest to discover new worlds.
She gently touched a small chest in front of her, lost in her memories. It was really pretty, with small, sparkly rocks, shining stars and pieces of tainted glass, all glued together, protecting the chest. Each pieces came from her beloved Kingdom. A 'souvenir' of those days that flew by to quickly, it seemed.
Her other hand was holding a golden key, so small that a ribbon attached to it's extremity was needed to make sure it didn't get lost.
'It is time... farewell, my friends. I will never forget the joy and happiness, the true meaning of friendship I found when I met you. You have been there for me for so long, and it's time to take a rest now. One day, I will come back to you, and it will be like I never left. I promise ...' she said softly, taking her time to choose her words, trying to put all the emotions she was feeling in these few words. She put the small key in the locket, and turned two times on the left, locking the chest for good. Opening a drawer on the side of the desk, she gently put the chest back into it's original place, and closed the drawer. After making sure it was locked, she stood up and walked by another, bigger, chest. Standing in front of it, she looked around her. Her eyes went back to the chest.
'Am I ready for this? Isn't it too quick?' she asked, a worried look on her face.
'Don't worry, you won't be alone. I will be there for you.' replied a voice behind her. A swift movement. 'Poupou, we need to leave now, the portal won't stay open for too much longer now. If I want to go back to Taiga, there is no time to waste.'
'You are right, Kimo. Let's do it. They need our help there ...'
Holding the Golden Key in her hand, she opened the chest. A dim light was coming from inside, enlightening her face in the darkness of the room. The sun, outside, had already went to sleep, leaving the sky to the moon. Taking a deep breath, she jumped inside the chest without looking back, quickly followed by a shadow. The door of the chest fell back into place, and no other sound could be heard. She was gone, and who knew when she would come back.
(( For those who are new to my threads, I recently put my old adoptables 'LAHK' on hiatus. I felt the need to start something new, and I thought it would be nice to include them in my discovery of this new world. I've managed them for a long time and they deserved a better ending than a sad thread in Generals. So yeah, I travel between different worlds and the portals are inside chests! Oh teh magic! ))
~~~~
And here starts Poupou's journey in The Land of Taiga. ^^
Hello and welcome, to the very first thread of The Land of Taiga. Little is known about this world, as we recently discovered it's existence. Our new friend, Kimo, is a Tai. He said they were the first species to ever exist in Taiga and he came to us seeking for help. His world is in danger. The food supplies are mysteriously depleeting and the Tais (Ties) are slowly starving to death. Kimo asked us to investigate on what was going on, and in the mean time, find new homes for the Tais, who are close to extinction.
Of course, I accepted to help them in a heartbeat. Who could refuse a request like this one?