Here:
Why this is subjectively an okay read
-grammatically sound! (fairly....)
-spelling is solid! (mostly)
-original characters! (is thats a plus??)
-no &%$#ing cussing!
-short chapters for busy people!
-long book for not-busy people! (eventually!)
-follows current popular post-modernistic style of writing!
-...relatable characters...?!

(I know this is the wrong forum for this story, but the Fan Fiction section looked really serious and scary....)

So basically... when I get bored... imma write another section of this... and you can read it if you like.

Description so far:
Beretta Dorneiros dreams of being the hero to rid Sylestia of evil. Years of serving with the guards of Esior's Haven would surely have taught her enough to see that dream become reality... but as she embarks on her adventure, she comes to realize that she may have yet to learn what it takes to save the world.
But there's a teensy problem: A kid arrives that seems to already have all the right qualities to bring peace to Sylestia... and outshine Beretta in every category. Thus, the race to vanquish evil begins....

Characters--

Beretta Dorneiros, an adventurer who seeks to become a hero. She tends to stick her nose where it doesn't belong and can be a mite bossy, but truly wants to help people and bring peace to Sylestia.

Maize Qinlar, a young adult who lives alone in the wilderness of Sylestia. He tends to be standoffish but will fight against evils if they threaten him directly.

Aerabella Lusandoral, a pixie that hit her head a bit too hard and thinks she's a human Princess. She wanders, trying to find someone who will help her return to her 'Kingdom'. She's endlessly kind, but panics easily and is incredibly indecisive.

Mysterious Robed Figure is, as far as is known, an unfeeling and cruel being who seems to be respected--or feared--by other evil beings. Not much else is known of them.

~more to come ~

Extras--

~more to come ~

Beretta Dorneiros sprints through the forest. More arrows fly past her and hit nearby trees or fall to the ground. She steals a glance back and sees the Nightfall bandits falling further and further behind. She digs her heels in and turns back to them. Heroes don't run. She has to face them. Sprinting back, she darts between trees, hoping this would keep the bandits from properly aiming. Drawing her broadsword, she stops behind a wide, solid, and ancient tree, listening and waiting for the bandits to come to her.

Beretta holds her breath and concentrates between the gentle breeze that rustles the leaves for the distinct sound of footsteps. She hears them, getting closer... she readies her blade. Soon, these fools would no longer trouble the inhabitants of Esior's Haven. She runs from behind the tree to the bandits and swings her sword at them with a focused ferocity that rivals that of a wolf, or a cat that was calm a second ago. One draws his bow, and Beretta dodges to the side before bringing her sword hard across his face. As he falls to the ground, another bandits steps forward and whips out a dagger. Beretta blocks a blow and jabs the point of her blade into the bandit's chest. She turns just in time to avoid another shot from a bow, which instead hits the bandit's ally. Beretta prepares to dash forward as the bandit reaches for another arrow when another sword comes out from the bandit's midriff.

The bandit's eyes widen and she looks at Beretta, fear shadowing her face before she falls. A dark and heavily robed figure stands where the bandit once had, but it was no friend. It looks up enough for Beretta to catch a glimpse of its eyes from beneath its hood. "We have no mercy for misfits. Go before you get yourself killed." Then he leaves, and the bandits, glancing wearily at the fallen 'misfit', follow him. Beretta's hands tighten around her broadsword and she begins to follow them.

"Dorneiros! Get back here!" She freezes, then smiles sheepishly and turns back to the man who had called her. Sheriff Thyrm is approaching with a small army from Esior's Haven, and to say the absolulte least, he is not happy. When he gets close enough, he starts chastising: "Dorneiros, what are you doing here... fighting bandits?! I told you, we can handle them just fine. You need to stay out of our way and let us do our job. You're going to get injured or killed and then you'll be nothing more than a burden we have to deal with when there are more pressing matters."

"Sheriff Thyrm, I can handle myself, and I'd say I did just fine!" Beretta sheathes her sword and looks the sheriff directly in the eyes. "I can't just sit back and watch Sylestia get overrun with all these evils. I have to do something to defend my home."

Thyrm looks at her evenly. "Then maybe this shouldn't be your home," he whispers.

Beretta opens her mouth in protest, but the first time she tries to speak, words fail her. She tries again: "L-leave... Sylestia?"

Thyrm shakes his head. "At least the Haven. I'd rather see you an outcast than dead taking missions that aren't yours." He turns and, with a wave of his hand, orders his troops onward.

Residents she'd fought to protect all this time push past her, some apologetic, others completely against her. She turns and runs to catch up with Sheriff Thyrm. Tears lining her lower eyelids, she reaches out for his shoulder. "Please, don't do this."

Without looking at her, he pushes her gently away. "Go, Beretta, before we have to force you out."

A few minutes later, she's left completely alone in the forest, tears running down her face and no where to go.

Beretta wakes up and peeks out of the tree roots she'd taken shelter in the night before. With no sign of danger, she slips out from under the tree and into the half-light of the dawn-streaked forest. The trees stand black against the orange glow and she blinks into the new day. What can she do now that there's no assignments, no one to protect, no more structure, certainty, or order? She drags her feet through the fallen leaves until she emerges from the forest, the sky now a blue-and-white impressionist canvas above her. She looks about the grassy field dotted with large bushes. Then she drags her feet through the still-wet grass.

Her stomach lets out a rather unpleasant sound. Putting her left hand over it, she peers around the field and wonders how various Sylestis might taste. A sylvorpa might taste like frogs' legs, a qitari probably tastes like a horse, which probably tastes like a cow, a lupora is most likely similar to some Korean dish.... She freezes when she hears a twig snap, searching around for the source. She sees a Zolnixi scamper away from a bush. It must have broken a branch or something.

What is Korea and how does Beretta know about it?

Her eyes alight on a tall bush covered in red grape-colored berries. There were other, less food-bearing bushes around it. She jogs to the ring of bushes and pushes through. In the middle of the bushes, there's a small clearing littered with the stumps of other bushes. Abandoned Sylesti trails, not having faced recent wear, sprout new plants. Beretta stops, not sure if she should continue onward. Her stomach lets out another complaint, and she decides she should just be cautious. She picks her way forward, avoiding anything that seems it might trigger a trap, which wasn't a whole lot. She pauses to look up at the bush, just barely out of its reach. A couple more steps and she'd be close enough to take some berries....

"Stop right there, don't turn around, hands up and don't move!" Beretta whips her head around to face this new threat. "No, I told you... agh, just put your hands up, okay? And don't move!" A man stands between two of the bushes, aiming an arrow at her with a rune-littered bow. He wore the attire of a Haven guardsman but she'd never seen him around before. She cautiously raises her hands in surrender. "Okay..." the man nods. "Okay. Now, state your business here."

Beretta stutters before successfully stating, "I was just... looking at the bush."

"...The bush?"

"Yeah."

"What about it?"

"Er... well, this... seemed like a rather... unusual place, and, being an adventurer--"

"You're an adventurer? You?" He scrutinizes her. "I've seen adventurers pass through here, and you do not look like any I've seen."

"Then I guess I'm a different kind of adventurer. And what are you doing out here anyway?" She lowers her hands slightly, her arms getting tired.

He doesn't relax his pose. "Doesn't matter. Mind your own business." Beretta's stomach lets out another loud sound, and she sucks in air and bites her lip. The man looks at her stomach then back up at her face. Then he shifts his gaze to the bush. "You're hungry."

He hadn't even asked, and presented no other easy opportunity to deny it. She shrugged, still not lowering her hands. "And you need a haircut and a shave."

A burst of air issues from his nose, a scattered remnant of a half-laugh. He lowers his bow. "Well, go ahead. Grab something from the bush if you want. They're not poisonous. We can talk over breakfast if you like."

She slowly lowers her hands. Glancing back to check on the man occasionally, she picks a couple handfuls of the berries. "What's your name?"

"Qinlar. Maize Qinlar. Yours?"

"Beretta Dorneiros." She walks up to him. "Do you live here?" Qinlar turns and walks under one of the bushes. She follows slowly, and finds that he's made a small and relatively clean (well, as clean as dirt floors can get) opening to sit in, enough for three or four people. He goes to the center of the bush and digs out half a handful of the very same berries, popping one into his mouth before returning to sit next to Beretta. "I mean, I guess you could say I live here. Been here a couple years now since I moved here. It's more of just a place I stay to keep everyone else out. What about you," he eats another berry, "adventurer?"

Beretta weighs her answer carefully. "I'm gonna save the world." She eats a berry. It's watery and a little sweet.

Qinlar nods slowly. "If there's even a world to save." He throws three more berries into his mouth. Beretta looks at him questioningly. "Dorneiros, I've been around this world. Sylestia's falling into chaos. Evil's got a grip everywhere you go, you can eliminate it in one place and it just spreads everywhere else, you try another place, it takes over the area you just saved and spreads even more, until it has every corner of this forsaken land. There's nothing you or I or anyone can do about that."

Beretta looks at him silently as he stares blankly at the inner wall of the bush. She wants to tell him he's wrong, but she knows he's right. "Well... I can at least do something, right?"

Qinlar blows air from his nose like before. "Maybe."

Beretta finishes tying off the small bag she had filled with berries and adjusts her belt. She turns, looking for Qinlar so she can say goodbye. He's not in the clearing, so she peeks under one of the bushes, looking for him. She hears a sharp hissing sound to her left, and upon turning to see where it came from, sees Qinlar peeking out from under some leaves a couple bushes away. He makes the hissing sound again and motions her over to his hiding spot. She goes over to him, unsettled by his worried expression. "What's up?" She asks wearily. He puts a finger to his lips and, grabbing her hand, pulls her under the bush with him. He crawls to the other side of it and peeks out of the circle of bushes, then points to something out of her sight.

She goes to join him and sees the same dark, cloaked man she confronted yesterday talking to another dark-haired man with a nightfall bandit's outfit and two sylestis at his side. Qinlar whispers, "I dunno what these two are up to, but something tells me they're no good. You better stay until they're gone."

Beretta nods, but stops. "No. Wait. I can take them." She starts to leave their shelter, but Qinlar yanks back on her belt. "Stop! Let me face them!" He puts a hand over her mouth.

"You don't even have a sylesti. There's no way you can take four opponents with your oversized knife." He removes his hand and goes back to the trunk of the bush, leaning back on it gently and crossing his arms.

"Then take them on with me. You have that stick with all the chicken scratches on it, isn't it good for something?"

"They're not chicken scratches, they're runes. They're, like, lucky or something. But fighting a battle rigged against us from the start is just stupid. If you want someone to 'fight the good fight' or whatever the heck you're doing with you, get sylestis. Only someone as brainless as an undead would help you."

"Oh, this fight is so stupid. If we could talk above a whisper, I'd be yelling. I don't see you with a sylesti. Ever notice how few people have them anymore? It's for a reason. They deserve better treatment. To be free."

"Oh great, you're a releaser, aren't you? Look, I have a sylesti, and she's perfectly happy."

"I don't see any sylestis. I bet she ran away, didn't she? Didn't like you as much as you thought, I'll bet."

"Actually, she's sleeping right over there." He points at a bush on the other side of the clearing. "Can't you see her?"

Beretta rolls her eyes and looks back to the shady gathering that had started the confrontation, but no one is there. She punches the ground and sits back. "They're gone anyway."

"Better off like that. You'll end up killing yourself. Whoever they were, it's best to let the pros handle them."

"I know one of them," Beretta mutters darkly. She tears up a dead leaf and continues, "Leader of the nightfall bandits. There's a huge bounty on his head. He goes by 'Talon'."

There's silence. She looks back at Qinlar. He has his head tilted sideways and is staring at her pensively. "You seem to know quite a bit about him. How's that?"

Beretta looks away again. "I... used to live in Esior's Haven. He terrorizes the residents there."

Qinlar doesn't speak for several seconds. "Well... dying doesn't help anyone. You need some help to take down a threat like that." Beretta looks back at Qinlar. He leaves the canopy of the bush and walks across the clearing to the shrub he'd pointed out earlier. Beretta follows him, preparing to inform him on the overbreeding issues and number of tamed pets unabe to fend for themselves being thrown into the wild because no one's willing to care for them. "Kyira? Wake up, girl," he whispers to some unseen thing under the bush.

Beretta leans forward to peer under the bush. She sees an enormous, dark brown mass shift under the bush and open its bright blue eyes. It let out a yawn that matched its substantial size, stretched, and stepped into the light. All over its body were blue and green markings and beaded feathery jewelry. It was the first Morkko Beretta had ever seen in person. Though it didn't even come to her shoulder, its rippling muscles defined power with every step it took. Standing in the sunlight, well-groomed and holding herself with pride, Kyira is a stark contrast to her master, who she lovingly nuzzles.

"Yes, you can tell she really suffers, can't you," Qinlar says, smiling and scratching Kyira between her pointed ears.

"How did you... I thought Morkkos were native to Umbra Forest?"

Qinlar looks back at Beretta, eyes half-closed. "You haven't actually been anywhere other than the Haven, have you?" Ignoring Beretta's embarrassed downcast eyes and shuffling feet, he pats Kyira and walks away. Picking up his bow and arrows, he shakes his head slowly and and says, "I'll only come until you get a sylesti of your own. That's it."

"Okay Dorneiros, take your pick." Qinlar crouches behind a tree next to Beretta, inspecting the area for ideal sylestis.

"What do you suggest," Beretta whispers back, trying not to disturb the peace of the forest. "What about that aurleon, it looks promising," she continues, not wanting to look like she knows absolutely nothing.

"Nah, you don't want that one," says Qinlar, squinting at the sylesti. "Take a better look and let's see how well you remember ecology class."

Beretta narrows her eyes at the dark red aurleon and sees what Qinlar was talking about: two tiny, feathery creatures are following closely behind what is evidently their mother. "Ah, she'll be pretty aggressive right now, then."

"I mean, there's also the fact that you'd be ripping her away from her babies, but yes." Beretta plans some choice words for her defense in the brief silence that follows, but focuses again on the task at hand when Qinlar says, "What about that zolnixi?"

Beretta looks over to the zolnixi he was talking about. He has a beautiful blue-and-gold coat with a dignified, curled tail. "Well, he looks alright, but do you think he can fight?"

"I wouldn't doubt it. They're quite intelligent and adaptable." Beretta thinks for a moment, then nods. She'd secretly been hoping for a fabled species, but a zolnixi would do. "Let's take Kyira and go after him, then." The morkko behind them stands, coming out of its hiding spot upon hearing her name. Qinlar does gestures with his hands, as if in some sort of code. Beretta looks at him in bewilderment. For a moment, nothing happens. Then, after that moment, at the time which one would expect something to happen, still nothing happens. Qinlar's face turns desperate. Beretta looks at Kyira. The morkko looks at her master as Qinlar does the motions again. She tilts her head curiously, but continues to just stand and stare. Qinlar drops his hands. "We'll work on that again later," he growls, then stands, pointing at the zolnixi. "Go on, Kyira, let's get it!"

Kyira bounds through the small wooded area to where the zolnixi is. A qitari bounds away and the aurleon makes an odd hissing sound before backing her young under a thick bush. The zolnixi, however, has already disappeared. Kyira stops and looks around uncertainly. Qinlar hits the trunk of the tree with his fist and mutters an expletive under his breath. Beretta shakes her head slowly. "Well, where can we try again?"

Qinlar sighs. "Well, there are always other clearings, or we can wait here until sylestis start coming back, but that might take a few hours."

A blue-and-gold blur drops from a tree onto Kyira, who bucks and shakes to get it off. "I think one already did," Beretta observes.

"Kyira! Get it off, roll over, hurry!" Qinlar runs to his morkko, but stops several meters away, unsure of what to do. The zolnixi snaps at Kyira's neck and back, but doesn't do any real damage to the bear-like beast. the zolnixi leaps off, standing in an almost playful stance. Its eyes are alight and its mouth open. If it could laugh, it would probably be doing so right now. "Kyira, use razor wind," Qinlar barks, and his companion lunges, claws outstretched and a sudden wind seeming to propel her forward. Her target bounces out of her way, making a strange yipping sound and snapping at his attacker's heels. Kyira roars, infuriated, and skids to a stop.

"I'm putting my money on the little fox," Beretta says loudly, having nothing to do but watch the encounter. Qinlar looks angrily back at her for a moment before returning his attention to the battle. The zolnixi sits and washes casually behind his ears.

"She hasn't properly warmed up yet," Qinlar snaps defensively. "Kyira, quick attack!" She lumbers forward, quickly gaining speed. The zolnixi stops and watches, his tongue hanging slightly out of his mouth and eyes half-closed, as if bored. When Kyira gets close, he flattens himself very suddenly against the ground and slithers forward between the legs of the beast approaching him, popping up again and shaking the dirt off. Kyira digs her feet in, but hits a tree, shaking a squawking aurleon halfway out of it. Kyira lets out a frustrated sigh. "Slippery little vermin, you're done for!" Qinlar shouts, waiting for Kyira to recover. The zolnixi makes little 'borf'ing sounds at him before darting away. "Come back!" Qinlar yells after it.

Beretta bites her fist to keep from laughing, watching the zolnixi hop like a gazelle through the tall grass and underbrush. She sees the little fox suddenly slip and let out a high-pitched, surprised yelp. She then hears small, odd whooping sounds, and the zolnixi backs cautiously away from whatever it had fallen into. Qinlar walks to a nearby tree, shielding his eyes from the afternoon sun to get a better look. Beretta follows him, still smiling, and sees a bulbori furiously making noises at the zolnixi, which puts his head to one side, intrigued by the little rodent. The zolnixi bats at it with a paw, and bowls the little bunny over.

"Well, too bad I didn't get it, that's two sylestis in a row it's beaten." Qinlar doesn't look away, seemingly entranced by the two sylestis. The bulbori leaps back to its feet and swipes at the zolnixi, putting small scratches on its nose. The zolnixi yelps indignantly before darting away. Qinlar scratches at his short beard. "Huh. You want a bulbori?"

"Oh, yeah, sure, why not?" Beretta says sarcastically, turning and walking away.

"No, no, I'm serious." Qinlar says.

"You can't be."

"Kyira, we're getting that one. Go easy on it." Qinlar points at the pink and brown bulbori, and Kyira runs to it, roaring. The bulbori watches her calmly, apparently not afraid.

[I know I skipped, but two fight scenes in a row get boring and that chapter was already longer than intended so :/ spoiler warning: kyira won and beretta has a bulb]

Beretta stares at the bulbori that is now her own. The thing's brown eyes stare back, eyes half closed. "So... um... hi." Qinlar lets out a huffy laugh behind her and Beretta feels her face warm up. She hadn't had a sylesti since she moved out of her parents' house, and even that one was technically her mom's. Calling upon those memories of childhood, she lowers her hand and slowly reaches out to the syelsti. It watches her hand before lazily looking back to Beretta. Reaching up with its own paw, it puts it on her hand. Beretta freezes, unsure of what is happening, she and the sylesti never breaking eye contact. The bulbori leans forward and sets its other paw on Beretta's hand, then uses its full weight and pushes her hand back to the ground.

"Ooh, I think she likes you," Qinlar says behind her.

Beretta glares back at him. "Didn't you say you were gonna leave?"

"I was, but you're a lost cause. Haven't you ever had to train a sylesti?"

"I've been around qitaris and zolnixis, but never a bulbori, and certainly not a sassy one!" Beretta gently moves her hand away from the bulbori's paws. It scratches its ear with one of its forepaws and yawns.

Something from quite a ways off crashes through the forest, growing steadily louder. The people and sylestis turn their heads to it, hearts quickening, before recognizing it as someone in a man in a Haven's Guardsman's outfit. He stops, catching sight of the small party, then continues toward them, more slowly, his head slightly to the side. "Dorneiros?" he calls, sending aurleons into the treetops.

Beretta squints at him. "Miller? What are you doing out here?" She calls back. She stands and jogs to meet him, the sound of ten feet crunching through the leaves behind her. Now that she's closer, Beretta can see a crimson dripping from the back of his arm. He follows her gaze and tries to turn his arm so she can't see.

"I'm sorry about what happened," he said awkwardly, avoiding her gaze. "I really wish we'd kept you around." He forces a laugh.

"What happened," she said, failing to keep her voice level.

Miller shakes his head. "Bandits. A lot of them. We did our best, but we couldn't keep them all back. I was told... to look for someone... i-it's kinda classified, though." Miller's face goes red, and he takes the expression of an indignant child. Beretta smiles at him. He always acted like this growing up, too. They were hardly a part of each others' upbringing, but she remembers his smile... she stops herself. There are more important things to do right now.

"Alright, then. I'll go check on the Haven, while you--"

"No, Dorneiros, you're banned! You can't go back, you heard Thyrm." Miller finally meets her eyes, obviously concerned. "I don't know what they'll do if you go back. Who does know?"

Beretta shakes her head. "They might kick me out again, but I doubt they'll say no to extra help."

"Who was leading the bandits?" Qinlar says. Beretta jumps, having forgotten he was there.

Miller looks at Qinlar's dirty and slightly scarred face skeptically. He glances back to Beretta, and she slightly nods, encouraging him to share. "Talon... Lord Talon...."

Qinlar looks at Beretta. "That was the, uh... that wimp with the crackhead, right? The one we saw earlier?"

After a moment of confusion, Beretta remembers who he's talking about. "Yeah, that guy."

Qinlar nods. Then he stops and stares pensively at the leaf canopy. Then he nods again, and says to Beretta, "Let's make sure he doesn't kill anyone," before jogging and whistling for Kyira to follow him.

Beretta turns to Miller. "Er... make sure... whoever you find... they should probably patch up your arm." He smiles awkwardly at her, and she does the same back. Then she tries to whistle for her bulbori, but fails after several attempts. Rolling her eyes, she just yells, "C'mon!" and follows Qinlar, hoping her new sylesti is following... and that no one's too hurt.

Beretta emerges from the tall wheat to find a spear in her face. She puts her hands up, keeping her eyes on the weapon. "Dorneiros, what're you doing back here?"

Beretta swallows and tries to relax to keep her voice even. "Sanchez, I heard there was an attack, I came to see if there was anything I could--"

"We're fine," Sanchez interrupts coolly. He lowers his spear a little. Out of the corner of her eye, Beretta can see another Haven guard with a spear at Qinlar's throat.

"He's with me," Beretta says, waving a hand in Qinlar's direction. Sanchez narrows his eyes and quickly glances to Qinlar. "He's harmless." Something shifts in the wheat behind Qinlar, and the guard in front of him tightens her grip on the spear. "Sanchez, please! Is there anything we can do? We didn't come to hurt you, only help."

Sanchez doesn't move for several moments, eyes narrowed in thought. "What's behind you?" he says finally, still wary.

"That's his pet bear. She's mostly harmless," Beretta says.

"No, behind you, I know about the bear," says Sanchez.

"Oh." Beretta peeks behind her, then looks down. The bulbori is standing immediately behind her. If a sylesti, much less a bulbori, could have a look of general hatred on its face, her bulbori most certainly does. Er... thats my bulb.

[gtg brb]