Devil-Moss

This is non-canon, and has nothing to do with the multiverse... yet.

I'm not sure where this RP will go just yet... I'll let you know when/if people can join... Just let me know if you'd like to join asap so I can plan ahead please.

If you'd like to join, know that I won't allow 'super powers' in this story... let's keep it semi-realistic. But some small abilities from mutations are allowed. Varients of you current characters are allowed as well.

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         The world ended with fire. The flames devoured all in its path, seeming to enjoy the taste of flesh, plant, and steel all the same. When there was nothing left to burn, the greedy hellfire starved and perished, but its invisible ghost still feasts in the wastelands today. This is what the old man tells us at least.          My generation wasn't there to witness it, so we gather with each empty moon to re-learn the story. Our chief hopes that with its teachings we can prevent our own destruction… This is good and all, but after two-hundred and twenty-one times I can't say I'm too ecstatic for tonight’s tale.          Now that the sun had fallen from the sky I decided it was a good time to start heading toward our shambled old town. Removing myself from a soft patch of grass, I gathered my only three possessions: a bag, a bow, and a quiver.          The bag was heavy with meat and supplies. I double checked for the ninth time today to make sure that it was properly sealed. The bow and quiver were large yet light, and were each hand-crafted by one of my fathers. I slung the items over my shoulder and turned slowly, cutting my way through the blood-red forest that surrounded my destination.          After a seven and-a-half minute hike, the gruesome moss that clung to the trees began to fade, and I knew I would be entering the village soon. The trees became less dense and grass was soon replaced with dirt, which was then replaced by dark brown sand. A clearing was up ahead.          Ahead of me, there was a small empty plain that was guarded by a river. Past that a ways more, small cabins and fair-sized tents could be seen. A small grin reached my face... I was home.          I stopped to double-check myself. I scratched at some of the moss that clung to my jacket, but soon gave up when I saw it was stained red. The cloth was not fit for town anymore, so I discarded it and my upper layer of clothing near the tree-line. I could always just pick it back up later.          Still fully clothed, I dived straight into the water which flowed away from the town. Letting the river rinse off my other three layers of clothing as I crossed, I sighed in relief at the bitter cold that soothed the burden of the Earth's hot, humid weather. Exiting the river, I noticed another person who was equally as drenched as me. They seemed to have been waiting for quite some time.          Boredom seemed to have claimed her, for she was busy carving her imagination into the dirt with the glowing knife that usually was sheathed at her side. The girl, who was well on her path of becoming a woman, was clad in a thick layer of leather and cloth. She finished her sketch of an archer and turned to face me with a grin.          "Running a bit late again, Bow?" Dagger said with a grin that mimicked my own. "You wouldn’t want to leave me all by myself during that torture  of a story, would you?" ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~          Dagger and I walked together to the perimeter of the city, chatting about our journeys since we had last seen each other half a moon ago. We stopped five yards from the town of Pathin’s entrance and waited for an official to allow us full entry. It wouldn’t take long. Villagers were already fleeing into their homes, so one should have been alerted by now.          Two minutes after our arrival a portly, bald man approached us. Small beads of sweat were forming on his forehead.          “Greetings, hunters!” he nervously squeaked. <span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Times New Roman;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">         “Greetings, Officer.” I returned in a calm voice. “We each bring a successful, and more importantly, clean hunt.” <span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Times New Roman;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">         The man blinked, and gathered himself. “Yes! Yes, of course.” he sighed in relief, “But I believe that I am the one to make the call on a ‘clean’ hunt, though. <span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Times New Roman;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:italic;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">Not <span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Times New Roman;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;"> you.” <span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Times New Roman;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">         I nodded and waited for him to continue. After seeing neither Dagger or I had any disagreements he extended his hand to receive our product. He unsealed both our bags and brought out the air tight containers that held the meat. He brought out his own instruments and began his testing. Now that he had begun his duty, he quickly recomposed himself. <span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Times New Roman;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">         “Have either of you been in contact with any Devil-Moss?” the officer inquired. <span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Times New Roman;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:italic;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">         <span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Times New Roman;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">Well that was a stupid question. Devil-Moss had dominated the region’s forest, dying it red. Anyone who left the city would get in contact with it… and that to could lead to many issues for <span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Times New Roman;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:italic;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">most <span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Times New Roman;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;"> people. <span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Times New Roman;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">         “That’s part of the job description for being a hunter.” Dagger chuckled. “Of course we have.” <span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Times New Roman;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">         The man rolled his eyes, “Yes, yes… We have to ask everyone the same questions when they enter our town… You know that. Hmmm… Have either of you two had any reaction the moss?”

<p style="text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Times New Roman;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">“Besides the usual cough? None.” I answered. Through mere chance I was born with a high resistance to the devil-moss, but it still did a number on my respiratory system.

<span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Times New Roman;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">         “I still have no symptoms at all.” Dagger grinned. <span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Times New Roman;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">         “You hunters have quite a resistance to that stuff. I‘ve seen strong men die terrible deaths from only trace amounts…” the officer said gloomily. He stuck an instrument into her pack and a low, slow beeping could be heard. “Not bad… cleaner than most meats from the wild.” <span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Times New Roman;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">         He pulled his tool from the pack: I took a moment to look at one of the few artifacts we had from before our time. It was a simple rod, almost arrow like, but instead of a tip there was a round ball that emitted warning buzzes and beeps. <span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Times New Roman;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">         The officer noticed my interest in the device. “It detects something called Rads,” he explained, “It what made everything in the wasteland evolve, or die, so fast. Devil-moss filled with it.” He waved the stick around the two of us, and was rewarded with a soft, almost in-audible buzz. “You two are clean, so head off to the ceremony. I’ll get your meat to the butcher. We wouldn’t want you to miss your history lesson.” <span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Times New Roman;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">         I rolled my eyes. He knew that we knew the story by heart. I gestured to my bag, “Aren’t you planning on checking mine?” I reminded him. <span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Times New Roman;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">         The officer’s eyes widened. “Of all the things to slip my mind!” he exclaimed, cramming his tool into my bag. “Sorry about that! Most hunters don’t come two at a time! It’s not very often that-” <span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Times New Roman;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">         An earsplitting pitch interrupted his sentence. He cursed and threw the bag to the ground. “It’s tainted.” He said simply, pulling out a match from his pocket. Striking up a flare of flame, he tossed it onto my bag. It caught fire almost immediately. I stood there speechless. <span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Times New Roman;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">         “I’m… I’m sorry.” I gasped, stuck by a sense of failure. If that had made into town… a shiver crept over me. “I didn’t know.” <span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Times New Roman;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">         The officer sighed, then nodded sympathetically. “It’s fine. Your catch must have eaten a bad patch of brush: there was nothing you could do about that. Just… be more careful next time.” <span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Times New Roman;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">         The fire illuminated the three of us in the dark. A silence loomed around us. After a few minutes though, the officer broke the quiet. “I’ll clean this up. You two get going.” <span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Times New Roman;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">         Dagger and I nodded, putting the event in the past, and headed on our way. “Oh, and… Bow,” he gestured to my weapon, “We’ll make sure to get you a new pack before you head out again. These kinds of things happen from time to time.” <span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Times New Roman;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">         “Thanks.” <span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Times New Roman;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">         Dagger let the silence linger for a while after we resumed our journey. We traversed sloppy, narrow streets that were paved with dirt. As we got closer, I felt her hand fall on my shoulder. “Don’t worry,” she said, “if that’s the worst thing that happens tonight, then we’ll be lucky.”

<p style="text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Times New Roman;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">I nodded. Though my face was already stained with a sad grin, I knew she was right. Especially tonight; tardiness was not appreciated by our leader. “We’re going to be late, so let’s get going... we wouldn’t want to upset the chief."