So look at your life,, who do you want to be before you die?

[Ernest Jacques]

'I know what I want And I say what I want And no one can take it away (OOC: Ah, the ever quotable Cobus. His weird theories make me pause and think about it, . ) I know what I want And I say what I want And no one can take it away' "I can hear it clearly, but I can't say that I've heard anything quite like it before... but I hear the resemblance with your notes as well,It sounds like it's close, but I can't see anything around us right now," Ernest wasn't trouble about what made the noise. Nor, was he troubled about how close the maker (or makers) was. What troubled him was that they knew, or mimicked his code. That code was a secret, not a soul besides Ernest knew. He would never tell that; but then how did they know? When the forest grew silent, Ernest tried to simply find an excuse. He needed to try to figure out how he knew what they were saying, or at least how he could explain it. "Can you make out something of its sounds? Is it... pieces of a song, or something similar?" Ernest then realized that he could find a way to respond without telling Cobus anything. Ernest realized that because Cobus didn't know about music, he could not guess what Ernest knew and what he didn't. Ernest simply had to figure out a way to explain this to him. How would he be able to communicate this to Cobus would be only a little harder. It was much easier then not realizing that Cobus didn't know much about music. "I can, it seems they repeat their message based on what note is played. If I can guess what they are saying and reply, they may echo back an answer." It was the best answer Ernest could come up with, even though it was vague and made little sense-even to Ernest. Ernest began to play his flute again, and decided to try to ask a question. The question was, simply, 'from what?' "It might be another human," At once, the sounds replied. Only, the replied all at once, in a random buzzing order. Each one seemed to set out its reply, but then other joined in with theirs. So it was loaded with each ones opinion, each with different voices, playing at once. And then, it all went silent. It did not gradually fade off, the sounds just stopped. As if they each had said all they could, or had been disturbed by something. However, in the confusion Ernest could only make out parts of what they were saying. Even worse, each one seemed to have opinions about something else entirely. Some answered Ernest's question, while others seemed to ask their own, or say something unrelated. This confused Ernest. "I don't think it is, they sound more like birds. Especially with how their noises seem to crowd together like that." What Ernest didn't say, was how much it stressed him. He instantly was able to decode what they were saying, but so many voices at once hurt his head. Not one message was the same, and so Ernest decided to ask a more specific question. Ernest played his flute again, this time asking, "Only one of you answer, what are we escaping from?" When the piece ended, there seemed to be simply silence. As if they were trying to figure out who should answer and speak. Then, one of the voices replied in the notes. 'F-O-R-E-S-T'. The answer was obvious, and so Ernest asked something a little less obvious. "Why should we escape from the forest?" This time a different Voice answered, and it spoke in a deeper tone. "Horrible..Creatures...Mazes..and Memories appear." Ernest didn't understand why they didn't reply in complete sentences. "It seems this forest must be darker then we thought." Ernest couldn't really explain that though, he didn't understand the Voice's meaning either, even though he clearly understood them. "They reply vaguely with the notes, so I can't really explain what they mean, but it seems that horrible things appear or happen here."

[Cobus J. Hunter]

Jetzt stehst du da an der Laterne mit Tränen im Gesicht das Tageslicht fällt auf die Seite der Herbstwind fegt die Straße leer (OOC: Then I've succeeded... or, rather Cobus has. XD zOMG, table!! <3) Jetzt stehst du da an der Laterne hast Tränen im Gesicht das Abendlicht verjagt die Schatten die Zeit steht still und es wird Herbst "I can, it seems they repeat their message based on what note is played. If I can guess what they are saying and reply, they may echo back an answer." Cobus nodded, it made sense even to him. "I don't think it is, they sound more like birds. Especially with how their noises seem to crowd together like that." It was true. But then Cobus couldn't help but to ponder further; what kind of birds could they be, being able to communicate with humans like that? He grew curiouser the more he thought about it. "It seems this forest must be darker then we thought. They reply vaguely with the notes, so I can't really explain what they mean, but it seems that horrible things appear or happen here." It didn't surprise Cobus as much as it troubled him - the fact that horrible things might happen in this forest. It had been obvious from the start that this was no ordinary forest, its desolate feel and seemingly unusual size (whether it was endless or not was open for debate) was two points that spoke for it, though maybe that wasn't enough to make one jump to the conclusion that it was a dangerous place. But those two facts was enough to make him ever so slightly suspicious. He thought about the memories he'd rediscovered and felt, but he didn't believe they had anything to do with this at all. He wondered more than ever why he'd come here, was there a reason for it? Something that he did remember was that he had been brought to another world, long ago, by the will of someone else. It might've been the case this time as well. "I don't know if you'll believe me or not, but I see little reason why I shouldn't tell you about this," he said and took a brief pause in order to collect his thoughts,"I think I was transferred here by someone or something, because I did not enter this forest by my own free will, neither did I enter it in a normal way - no, someone sent me here for some reason. They kidnapped me from my own world - or maybe just from the place I was in before I came here, since this might very well be my own world - and then put me here. Before I arrived in this forest I remember falling in total darkness. After that I woke up here, then I met you." Cobus let the fingers of his right hand tap on the brim of his hat, as he often did while thinking, "So, the person who sent me here must've wanted to show me something, or at least I think so. I don't think anyone would do something like this without a reason," there were another, but not as exciting, possibility as well; "Or I might've just come here by accident. It happens, but very rarely, that one is teleported to another place or world, or even another dimension. Most people never experience this, however..." Cobus didn't finish the sentence, instead he shook his head slowly. The eyes sparkled with a carefully hidden and old fear, "... anyway, I just wanted to say it might have something to do with this. The forest, and the things that may happen here." There were more he could say about travelling between worlds but he wanted to keep it as short as possible. Besides, Ernest might think him being a madman talking on and on about travelling to foreign worlds. Maybe Ernest already thought he was a little nuts, and maybe that didn't do any harm.

[Ernest Jacques]

'I know what I want And I say what I want And no one can take it away (OOC: Short post.) I know what I want And I say what I want And no one can take it away' "I don't know if you'll believe me or not, but I see little reason why I shouldn't tell you about this, I think I was transferred here by someone or something, because I did not enter this forest by my own free will, neither did I enter it in a normal way - no, someone sent me here for some reason. They kidnapped me from my own world - or maybe just from the place I was in before I came here, since this might very well be my own world - and then put me here. Before I arrived in this forest I remember falling in total darkness. After that I woke up here, then I met you. So, the person who sent me here must've wanted to show me something, or at least I think so. I don't think anyone would do something like this without a reason, Or I might've just come here by accident. It happens, but very rarely, that one is teleported to another place or world, or even another dimension. Most people never experience this, however...... anyway, I just wanted to say it might have something to do with this. The forest, and the things that may happen here." 'What?' Ernest could have expected Cobus to say anything, except what he just explained. Ernest blinked, as he began to digest the information-and then he wondered if it was to be believed or not. Cobus did seem like a fellow who was out of place, but no doubt the same was with Ernest. Neither of the two 'belonged' here. However, Ernest didn't make much sense of Cobus' explanation, it didn't sound natural. Of course, nothing in this forest was natural-Ernest had met no other living soul until he happened upon Cobus. So, he could have appeared suddenly. How Cobus had done that, Ernest could only guess as he wasn't really convinced with his story. Something about it just didn't fit right-but then again Cobus seemed to be used to it. It rather confused Ernest, in whether or not such a thing was possible, and if it was-that Cobus was a victim of it. 'Makes about the same amount of sense that the rest of this place does.' Sighing, Ernest made his reply. "I can't say whether or not I believe you. It makes sense that you seemed to appear here suddenly, but I'm not sure if I believe the reason behind it. Or, if I do, I cannot say that I can completely trust that you aren't lying-even though you seem so knowledgeable on the subject.." Ernest shrugged, "still you aren't the first thing that doesn't make sense in this forest." Ernest then looked around at the trees, this forest was very immense, and it seemed to be green-he had not seen a pine tree in it at all. He had only seen the trees that would have changed colors, come fall-even so Ernest doubted this forest went through seasons, it was probably some more factor to its oddness. The question still remained as to what had replied to his song; and why hadn't they replied before-before Ernest had met Cobus? What troubled Ernest most, was that he could not see these harmless, bird-like creatures. If he couldn't see them, what if one of the deadly ones appeared? Would he see it? Hear it? Maybe it wasn't a creature at all-maybe the trees were deadly, or maybe something else entirely. Ernest now realized that the forest was silent again. No more of the creatures spoke, and so Ernest wanted to see if he could ask them another question-or if they would even answer. Playing his flute again, Ernest asked, "why can't we see you?" At once, the noises began again, and then faintly, one voice was heard. "not be seen by horrible things." Well, that explained it-they were hiding from whatever they had warned him about. "Could one of you, just reveal yourself?" Suddenly, a shape-about the size of a song-bird, blasted out of one of the trees. It was as dark as the trees' shadows, and did not seem to have any eyes. As it fluttered past them, it glowed a moon-lit yellow, where it lost all shape. It circled around them, faded down to black again, and vanished somewhere in the trees.

[Cobus J. Hunter]

Jetzt stehst du da an der Laterne mit Tränen im Gesicht das Tageslicht fällt auf die Seite der Herbstwind fegt die Straße leer (OOC: ) Jetzt stehst du da an der Laterne hast Tränen im Gesicht das Abendlicht verjagt die Schatten die Zeit steht still und es wird Herbst "I can't say whether or not I believe you. It makes sense that you seemed to appear here suddenly, but I'm not sure if I believe the reason behind it. Or, if I do, I cannot say that I can completely trust that you aren't lying-even though you seem so knowledgeable on the subject..still you aren't the first thing that doesn't make sense in this forest." Cobus nodded; he was rather relieved that Ernest didn't believe him. If Ernest had believed him immediately and without doubt, that would have been worrying. He was a stranger to Ernest, just as much as Ernest was a stranger to him so it was only natural to doubt. "I know that it sounds... crazy, to say the least. Though... I still wanted you to know this. I have no idea why," he glanced at the trees they were surrounded by, suddenly feeling uneasy, "I know it was quite a bit of information, but it felt important." Exactly why it felt important, he didn't know - maybe what was important was that Cobus felt a bit better after speaking his mind, like one can do after revealing something like a painful secret. But that didn't make sense at all since this sort of thing had happened to him before, and it was no secret. Cobus observed as Ernest started playing on the flute, and heard the responses the birds gave. He wondered what they said but he got interrupted in his thinking, as a bird emerged from the trees and flew towards them, circled around them and then returned into the safety of the trees. As he had watched the little creature, he'd felt a terrible shiver run down his spine, and how he'd felt nauseous. But the feeling disappeared as soon as it had came. It was probably nothing, he told himself, it was just him being sensitive and easily scared. "So that was one of them..." Cobus spoke with a low voice. He didn't know what Ernest had said to the birds, but he was at least certain that the creature they'd seen was one of them. "Maybe you should ask if they know how to get out of the forest? If it's even possible that is," Cobus said and remembered his horse. He'd had a horse before coming here - not a horse without its share of complications, but nevertheless his dear horse - and wished that it had been there with them right now. They had travelled together for many years, but he guessed that it was left behind in "his" world. But perhaps that was for the best considering the nature of the forest.

[Ernest Jacques]

'I know what I want And I say what I want And no one can take it away (OOC: Feel free to continue on with the white-eyed creature in your post. : ) ) I know what I want And I say what I want And no one can take it away' "I know that it sounds... crazy, to say the least. Though... I still wanted you to know this. I have no idea why, I know it was quite a bit of information, but it felt important." Ernest nodded, following Cobus' gaze. He wondered if he should tell Cobus his secret. 'What good would it do though? It would be about as helpful as what he just explained to me was.' And the last thing that Earnest needed would be to someone to know his code, and to think, how would that affect him? Knowing that someone out there-even if not in Ernest's, 'world', knew the code for his songs. Oh, how hard his life would be then, he would no longer be able to write his songs freely, as he would know that someone, somewhere, could read them as well as he could. Ernest decided against telling Cobus his secret. It was rather selfish, and rather to be expected, but it was something all the same. When the glowing bird-shaped creature flew by, Ernest wondered why exactly he had never seen or heard those things before. Were they always so skittish? It wouldn't have surprised him, but what worried him was what made them so afraid. It would have to be something that Ernest had yet to come across, something rare as well-as Ernest had walked in this forest for some time-even though it was easy to say that the place was nearly endless. For all they knew, they could be at the entrance of the forest, and still have a long way to go. Ernest did not think about that, to him, it felt like they were at least half-way through. "So that was one of them...Maybe you should ask if they know how to get out of the forest? If it's even possible that is," Ernest agreed with Cobus. It would be best to ask how to get out of the forest, if it were even possible, and if these birds knew. And so, Ernest asked, taking the flute to his lips, 'only one of you answer-how do we get out of this forest?' Again, the birds conversed wildly. Their chirps rang loudly, and seemed to be simply gibberish, something that even the birds themselves could not have translated. Slowly, after at least five minutes, the wild chaos of it all calmed down a little, and a few birds cried out with various ways to 'get out' of the forest. Then they too fell silent, and one voice rang out. "Many ways out! Any direction leads out." Ernest was rather annoyed with the answer, and then asked, 'Are their any paths? Any direct route to the exit?' This time, the birds grew silent, and when Ernest went to ask again, he saw eyes watching him out of the tree where the lone bird had flew into. The eyes were bright white, and seemed to be quite large. It was startling, to say the least, and Ernest grew silent as well, "...L-look at that.." Ernest forced out, "it seems that a different creature..has..found us." The eyes blinked, but otherwise remained in their frozen state. No shape came out of the darkness, but one could tell that it seemed to be contemplating the idea. Its white eyes held no pupil or iris, they were simply the whites of eyes, and were blank. They seemed to be almost reptilian in look, which would explain why it was eating birds. Larger snakes often ate birds, but this reptile seemed to have its eyes on the two of them, even though it did not move from its spot.

[Cobus J. Hunter]

Jetzt stehst du da an der Laterne mit Tränen im Gesicht das Tageslicht fällt auf die Seite der Herbstwind fegt die Straße leer (OOC: All right! I hope you like what I 'made' the creature to.) Jetzt stehst du da an der Laterne hast Tränen im Gesicht das Abendlicht verjagt die Schatten die Zeit steht still und es wird Herbst "...L-look at that.. it seems that a different creature..has..found us." Cobus stared back, towards the pair of eyes that were watching them. The creature's eyes were eerie, and he thought that it looked like its eyes contained a mist. A thick, white mist that one wouldn't like to be caught in because if you did, you might never come out again. With a swift movement, Cobus opened his bag and took out a small pocket knife. Not ideal for fighting but better than nothing. Immediately after he'd done this, the creature emerged from the darkness, as if his action had tempted it to the extent that it could no longer sit still. At first, he was frozen. The creature was there on a branch, still looking at the two of them but not moving. Cobus' mind drew a blank, he was unable to think for one or maybe two long seconds... and so his knife fell down from his hand, burrowed itself into the soft ground at his feet, resembling a bizarre crucifix. The pain in his left hand returned and it started bleeding again, and a sharper, much more awful pain shot through his head, making it impossible for him to stand. He fell down onto his knees. He pressed his hands hard towards his forehead and a hollow scream escaped his throat, but he stopped it pretty quickly by clenching his teeth until his gums began to bleed. Cobus had gazed into the creature's eyes when it had walked out of the darkness, and what he saw was almost too much for him. What Cobus saw wasn't a reptile but a feline-like animal that awoke memories that had long since been dwelling inside of him, and it made him loose control. Its body looked like it was decaying and it nauseated him. He did not know it, but the creature looked different to different people; Ernest probably saw something else right now. But at the moment, it was concentrating on Cobus, deliberately digging up lost memories, as if he hadn't suffered enough from them already. The creature knew exactly what to do in order to break a human, or any other animal, apart and then devour it while it was totally defenceless. While it was going mad. "Take... it... away!" Cobus said, maybe referring to the creature or the pain, or both. He felt a strange need to look into its eyes, but wouldn't do so. He couldn't do much else but try to avert his gaze from the feline-like creature with strange, reptile like eyes. His body had lost all its strength, and soon his mind would too.

[Ernest Jacques]

'I know what I want And I say what I want And no one can take it away (OOC: I've been listening to the Cruxshadows lately, and I heard the song you used in the title for this and it instantly became a favorite of mine. Random. ) I know what I want And I say what I want And no one can take it away' Ernest froze when he watched the creature walk out. It-it was so unnatural. What could he do? It seemed to him like such a creature could not exist, and yet there it was before him. The reptilian eyes had given him the impression of it being a reptile, but instead he saw a Feline-like creature, it was not exactly like what Cobus saw. The ears were long and stretched out like a bat's, and its paws were bony, its paws ending in long, thin claws. Its tail was almost chameleon like. It was, however, in the same dead, zombie-like form in which Cobus saw it. It was meant to look morbid and dead, no matter who saw it. However, Ernest watched as the feline-like creature focused on Cobus. Suddenly, Ernest heard Cobus scream. He looked away from the creature, which Ernest had very bad vibes from, and looked at his-friend? Ernest could hardly think of a word at the moment that suited Cobus, instead, he only saw the pain which Cobus was facing. A sort of pain Ernest did not wish to face, and he fought the urge to look at the Un-Godly beast. He saw Cobus in pain, saw that he was bleeding from stifling the scream that would have made Ernest freeze in cold, dead terror. What could he do? What should he do? 'Am I expected to fight it? Am I expected to-to what? Rescue him??' Ernest had not the need, want, nor the ability to even attempt such a thing. And yet-there was the dagger. "Take... it... away!" A funny thing occurs when one is faced with mortal fear. When every second may mean their death, or when the difference between seeing a death and preventing it will be less then a second. That thing is often called 'fight or flight'. Perhaps it flings heroes to do things they would never normally do, or maybe it makes us do stupid things that we would never want to do. That somehow, our fear gives us a brave stupidity, and we push on or push away. Earnest may have left Cobus to die, if it had not been for the fact that he was completely alone and lost in this forest, and that he would not get very far with that monster there. Earnest then decided that having any sanity at all was better then having none, and he quickly walked around Cobus, and grabbed the dagger. While doing so, he knew that the creature was soon going to aim its gaze at him. That it knew it was about to be attacked. Earnest had never wielded a weapon in his life, how was he supposed to use this thing? Stab? Upper hand or lower? Was he supposed to throw it? What should he aim for? Earnest panicked, when he knew if he did not do something he would soon be next in line to die. And Earnest sure did not want to die. He flung the dagger at the creature, and it hit it in its shoulder. The creature hissed, blinked, and tore its gaze away from Cobus and Earnest, as it began to try to lift and pull out the dagger from its shoulder. They had seconds left to leave. "Cobus! Can you stand?" Earnest asked, his eyes closed so that he did not have to fight the urge of not looking at the beast.

[Cobus J. Hunter]

Jetzt stehst du da an der Laterne mit Tränen im Gesicht das Tageslicht fällt auf die Seite der Herbstwind fegt die Straße leer (OOC: They're so great. <3 I loved the song immediately when I first listened to it, too. And now the escape begins...!) Jetzt stehst du da an der Laterne hast Tränen im Gesicht das Abendlicht verjagt die Schatten die Zeit steht still und es wird Herbst Everything flashed by so quickly. Colours crashed down before his inner sight - his eyes were closed, so very tightly, if they had not been he would've been completely lost - and pain continued to shoot through his head, hand and mouth. The physical pain wasn't the worst though. Oh take it away take it away why doesn't it end I don't... His thoughts were all jumbled up, but at least he could think. He then heard a noise, faintly through his loud thoughts. It had been a hiss. But how, who had...? He could feel his thoughts coming into order again, and the agony he'd been in began to ebb out. Cobus had recovered some lost memories and even if they were the kind that made him feel anguish, he felt glad. At last he was complete. If the anxiety was a prize he had to pay in order to be complete, he gladly paid it. "Cobus! Can you stand?" Cobus got up on his feet, slowly and on unsteady legs, but managed to regain his balance. He glanced very briefly at Ernest and even more briefly at the creature. He'd caught a glimpse of the dagger in the cat-like creature's shoulder. Cobus grinned but quickly began to frown instead. The pain wasn't as bad now as before, but it still hurt. He swallowed some of the blood he had in his mouth and grimaced at the metallic taste, and carefully he felt around his gums with his tongue... he was sore all right, but he guessed that it wasn't anything serious and that it would heal fast enough. "Yes... thank you," he nodded briefly in the direction of the creature and he tried to speak as little as possible because of the pain in his mouth - this was not the time to stand around to chat, either, "We... should go... run." He gestured to his right and turned in that direction - he guessed that it didn't really matter where they ran, as long as it was away from the creature. Cobus didn't look at it, he kept his head turned away and his eyes half-closed. But he had a mental image of the cat, its dirty mane and large, sharp teeth and claws. And the rotting flesh. It was like an undead lion to him, but somewhat smaller, but still so very different compared to a real lion... or really any animal. He couldn't put his finger on it, but it had given off such a weird vibe. Well, of course. If it really is a living-dead creature, why wouldn't it...? he thought. He tried to think rationally, but he couldn't shake the odd feeling off of him. It couldn't matter less though, because he lived - and that was all that mattered for now. Ernest had saved him and he was grateful, even if he'd almost wanted to die just a few moments ago. But the creature no longer had any control over his memories or thoughts, and so he felt the instinctive will to live well up inside of him.