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Deep within the forest there came a roar like the fury of ten thousand tiger-kin. Shrouded among the trees and hidden away from the prying eyes of the various settlements and tribes that dotted the forest and the surrounding plains, there was the ever mystical Sorochai Waterfall. While it wasn't difficult to get to, it was surprisingly hard to find, some attributing this to various enchantments that had been placed on the area.

The cascade of water plummeted thirty feet to a large pool that then fed out to a river that wound down to the rabbit-kin settlement near the edge of the forest. In the middle of the pool was a large, flat rock that the water flowed around, and perched on top of that rock was a single figure. Legs folded and arms settled in his lap, the man seemed to be in a state of peace and meditation.

Scales in the pattern of brown bands atop a green background flourished over the man's body, an obvious snake-kin. His head was tilted down and his eyes were closed, a peaceful expression adorning his face. His tail curled behind him on the rock, and with the exception of the his slowly lifting chest from every breath that he took, he was absolutely still. His name was Dekko, and he was the residential druid and protector of this area.

Aside from a pair of shorts that ended just above his knees, he wore nothing. A cooling mist from the waterfall at his back gently collected and began to run down the curvature of his body as little rivulets. He was a rather thin individual, but that didn't mean he was weak at all. His arms and shoulders showed the evidence of a life of determination and training. His chest was toned and a rippled stack of abdominal muscles adorned his stomach.

Snake-kin like him were well known far and wide. Not much was known about the inner workings of snake society, but what was known was that the magic they wielded was very powerful. It was often that extra planar rifts would open, leading to demons or interdimensional monsters leaking through and causing havoc. Of all those that responded to such threats, Snake-kin were always the first, showing up with their apprentices and containing the beasts.

But Dekko didn't have an apprentice, at least not yet. It was a problem that he fully intended to rectify as he was very late with accepting one. Though he was young, this snake-kin was considered to be a savant, even by his own kinds' standards. He had mastered three domains of forest magic and was in his late twenties, a place where others were with only one domain under their belt.

The snake-kin was concentrating hard, though he was shown to be relaxed and calm, his mind was surging and drawing upon the latent magical potential of the land around him. Though the pool around him had a natural flow to it from the waterfall in and the river out, small whirlpools and churning began to develop in front of Dekko's rock.

Almost like a pot of water that was boiling, the water became more and more turbulent as time went on. The churning began to transform, the swirling skin of its surface began to organize itself into complex geometric shapes. These shapes evolved and moved like a lattice over the pool's surface. Then, all at once, these shapes began to lift out of the water. Diamond and triangular fractals raised higher, though their shapes shimmered and wavered, they eventually became solid.

Dekko's expression didn't change at all, but his mind was still releasing copious amounts of direction towards the intricate water shapes. They all ranged in size, some the size of a small rock and others as large as the snake-kin himself. There must have been fifty of them all together, slowly lifting from the surface of the water and eventually breaking contact to float entirely independent.

As if by met by some freezing magic, the shapes texture became rigid like ice, though if anyone would have touched them they would have found that they were still liquid. The objects rose higher and higher until they began to hit some of the filtering rays of light through the canopy, causing rainbows to dance across the hidden area.

At the edge of the pool near a wall of trees and brush there came a rustle as a body broke through into the clearing. Despite the cacophonous roar of the waterfall, it was monotonous and constant. To hear something as sharp and sudden as foliage being forcefully moved had caused the snake-kin's concentration to break.

Dekko's eyes snapped open in alarm, and in that same instant all of the floating water shapes dropped from the air and splashed into the pool. While he didn't physically look fatigued, he was mentally exhausted. Perhaps a break was needed but preferably not to be started so jarringly. His eyes fixated on the newcomer, and as soon as the distant details came to him, a smile crept across his face.

It was plain to see that the newcomer was from the rabbit village, and a male. His fur was a light gray with an even lighter gray undercoat which was displayed because he wore no shirt. The forest was an unforgivably hot place to be, and so he had stuffed it away within the backpack that was slung over his shoulders. It also held within it the essentials to get him to the waterfall and back if need be.

Lokas was gifted in his own right with his kind's magic, though he was at a stage in his life that required him to go out and seek mentoring and to further himself in other domains. He was a wiry and resilient youth, one that showed a lifetime of survival and hard training. He wasn't much taller than Dekko and his body type was even similar, if not a bit thinner in the shoulders.

Read the full story here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/meet-me-at-16559595