Achaea's Romeo and Juliet

By: Mossis Posted on: May 28, 2004

A long time ago, in the beautiful land of Sapience, there lived a beautiful maiden by the name of Juliet. She had just turned eighteen and was ready to embark on her journey into the world. She made her way through the lands to Certimene, and had decided to join one of the forestral guilds. After being inducted by Certimene, she wandered around waiting for someone to pick her up and begin her introduction into the guild. From out of nowhere, a man stumbles out of the bushes. He was dressed in a similar fashion; naked, save for a canvas backpack and a gleaming steel short sword. Juliet gathered her courage and greeted him with a friendly "Hello." The man looked at himself, realizing he wasn't cut too badly, and sheepishly greeted her back.

"Hello, my name is Romeo," he said. "Nice to meet you. What's your name?

"My name is Juliet. Are you okay?" she replied.

"I'm fine. I just got lost trying to find Certimene. Would you know where he is?"

"Sure! I was just there a few moments ago. I'll bring you to him." Juliet took his scraped hands into her own, and their eyes met for a brief moment. She blushed slightly, bit her lip, and led him down the path to where Certimene was located. As they made their way to Certimene, someone descended down from above, bearing a strong resemblance to an Eagle. They introduced themselves as Juliet's guide into the guild, and they exchanged pleasantries. As Juliet was being hoisted she let out a yell and asked Romeo what guild he was going to join. He shouted an answer back, but the sound of the rushing wind denied her his response.

As time went on, Juliet went on to become a full member of her guild. Rumor had it that she was even going to get promoted into a guild Secretary. From time to time, she though about Romeo, and how lost he seemed when she first met. The innocence of his smile, and the sparkle in his eye. One day, while harvesting in the forest, she stumbled upon a man covered in Mhaldorian garb.

"Mhaldorian scum," she muttered under her breath. She walked up to him and was about to politely, and if need be, forcefully remove him from the forest when he turned around.

She stopped to look at the face of her dear Romeo. His face was full of grime, and covered with scars, but she recognized his face. In a barely audible whisper, she asked "Are you okay?"

Romeo looked at her with a great joy in his eyes. He opened his mouth as if to speak, but drooled instead. He then immediately began to spank himself, and giggle. Juliet recognized the symptoms almost immediately. Stupidity. She began to walk away. It was against the rules. She's not allowed to help Mhaldorians. She closed her eyes and shook her head, trying to get the voices out. When she opened her eyes she looked directly into the eyes of Romeo. His eyes were wet, and seemed to reflect her pain. He knew the rules as well. He turned around and leave, but instead began to swim south on the ground. In a moment of stupidity, or love, Juliet grabbed Romeo by the shoulder and turned him around. She reached into her pocket belt, and removed a goldenseal root. Romeo's eyes opened wide in horror, and he opened his mouth to object. She quickly shoved the root into his mouth, but he spit it back out. Determined to help him, Juliet picked up the root and chewed it into little bits, mixing it well with her saliva. She placed her lips gently around his, and parted them slightly to allow the mixture to flow through, down his throat. Juliet stood up, and looked at him. Romeo was still lying on the floor, and looked as if he had been paralyzed. He stared back at her, unblinking, barely breathing. Delayed paralysis?! She had never heard of that, but nonetheless, she reached down to remove a bloodroot from her pocket belt.

In the blink of an eye, Romeo lunged at her. She grabbed protectively at her pocket belt, and willed her skin to turn as thick as bark. She looked at him with fire in her eyes as she began to morph into a Wyvern. She had every intention to rip his guts out and retrieve the wasted goldenseal, when Romeo placed his lips on hers. His lips felt soft, and supple, and she melted in the presence of the heat. A fire burned insider her- from the tips of her lips down to her... toes! She pushed him off and slapped him across the face.

"Are you stupid or something?!" Juliet asked in amazement.

"No... I just love you... I've loved you from the day I first met you on that path to Certimene," replied Romeo. He looked down on the ground sheepishly, and kicked at the dirt around his feet. His ears were turning so red, they were visible even under all the grime. He looked up at Juliet with hope in his eyes and asked, "Do you love me?"

"No. I can't. It's against everything I stand for. It's against everything YOU stand for. There's no way I could ever love someone like you." Juliet lied through her teeth. She had never lied before in her entire life, and this first time was like ripping her heart out.

"Oh..." Romeo looked down, and patted some of the dirt off of his tattered clothes. "I understand..." His head snapped up, and there was a light in his eyes. "But you can't stop me from loving you."

Juliet's mask of indifference was instantly shattered, and she looked at Romeo longingly. Romeo's eyes met hers, and they embraced with a deep passionate kiss. Their lips parted for a brief moment and they were about to meet again when with a rush of beating wings, someone hoisted Romeo into the air. A few moments later, her father, a prominent figure in the guild descended from above. Juliet performed a graceful curtsey.

"DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU JUST DID?!" his voice boomed. "You could be outguilded for having... RELATIONS with that him. Just be happy I don't report this to the guild master."

Juliet tried to summon up the courage to apologize, but deep in her heart, she felt she wasn't wrong. Her body slumped down with defeat, and she walked back to the guild hall. When she returned to her room, she was surprised to find a dove with a letter in its beak. The letter was addressed to her, and she tore it open to find that it was from her beloved Romeo. The contents of the letter were short, but sweet. He declared his undying love, and compared her beauty and grace to those of the Divine... etc, etc... Juliet pressed the letter against her chest and read the last sentence again. It asked her to meet him in the room above the Crystal Leaf inn, at midnight a day after tomorrow.

At designated time and place, Juliet waited for Romeo's arrival. She paced nervously around. It was almost midnight. Where was he? When the moon was at its peak in the night sky, Juliet prepared herself for the worst. She had been stood up. She turned to walk down the steps when pebble rapped against the window. She threw open the window, and to her joy and amazement, Romeo was down below. Romeo was kneeling on one knee, and holding a leather-bound journal. He read from it poems, sonnets and passages; all detailing how he fell in love with her the first day they met. Juliet sat down by the window, and listen to the poetry flowing out of his mouth. When Romeo finally finished, it was nearly dawn. Juliet stood up and prepared herself to run down the stairs to meet him, when she turned to meet Verigard, her guild master. He grabbed Juliet by the shoulder, and turned her back towards the window. Romeo's face lit up when he saw Juliet's face, but darkened at the sight of Verigard, beside her.

"Be gone!" shouted Verigard. He put his hands to his lips and whistled. A pack of grey wolves emerged from the forest. "Leave now with your limbs intact, or suffer the consequences." Romeo opened his mouth to object in defiance, when a wormhole opened up beside him. Out of the wormhole stepped Travisty, brandishing a Thoth's fang in her hand. The wolves back up away from the emerging Naga.

"Vertigo, Vertigo... There you go again. Don't go threatening the members of my guild. I don't take lightly to them getting threatened," said Travisty as she stepped in front of Romeo.

"Your bastard of a protégé was trying to woo one of my guild members!" Verigard replied, eyes gleaming with anger. "I'll rip him to shreds if he comes near her again."

Travisty wiggled her finger in front of Romeo. "Tsk. Tsk. You should know better than that. Friends with a forestral? I thought you had more common sense. And taste for that matter" Romeo looked down at his feet defeated. With a quick flick of her wrists, she cut off Romeo's ear. "Maybe if you have only one ear, you'll learn to listen better." Travisty threw the ear at one of the wolves, who snarled and flung it into the bushes. Travisty then turned, and with a swift kick, shoved Romeo into the wormhole. Travisty turned to Verigard and blew a kiss in his direction. "Bye gorgeous!" she cackled, as she jumped into the closing wormhole.

Verigard turned to Juliet to give her a stern lecture, but saw the tears flowing down her face, so he wrapped a comforting arm around her instead. He led the way back to the guild hall, and not a single word was spoken between the two of them. Juliet returned to her room, and prepared to write a letter to Romeo. She bolted the door, and moved her desk to barricade it, and began to write. She asked him to meet her again in a week's time in the forest where they had found one another for the second time. She sent it off with a kiss as she watched a dove carry it towards Mhaldor. Juliet quickly inked a starburst tattoo onto her arm, and activated it. Taking a quick sip from a bottle containing voyria, she prepared herself to die. She coughed up blood, and the world began to spin around her. Juliet collapsed to the floor, and twitched helplessly. She gave a few more quick jerks and then she stopped moving entirely. In a flash of light, her body glowed, and color returned to her cheeks. Someone pounded at her door, and she quickly stood up and jumped through the window, and ran off into the forest. She heard the door splinter as she floated away in her Nightingale morph.

Meanwhile, Romeo had received the letter, and was anxiously awaiting the moment he would be able to see his love again. He watched the still rising sun, and willed the day to pass quickly. Suddenly, Travisty burst in with a smile upon her lips. "Sorry, honey. She's dead. Gone. Kaput. No more sweetie pie for you," she taunted. "Poisoned with voyria. I saw it happen on deathsight. Such evil bastards, those forestrals. They eat their novices, you know..." Travisty made a face of mock sympathy, twirled, and left the room, slamming the door behind her.

Romeo slumped down in his chair. He wouldn't believe it. It couldn't be true. Travisty was only lying to him. Romeo decided to wait the week's time as instructed by Juliet. As the days passed, Romeo heard more and more stories about Juliet's demise from people around the land. Her body was missing, and no one had resurrected her. If she had prayed, her soul would have returned at the Cave, but there were no signs of her there as well. Slowly, but surely, he began to believe Travisty's tale. On the designated day, Romeo walked slowly to the forest to meet Juliet. As he pushed past the trees into the grove, he saw her body on the ground, surrounded by flowers. Romeo knelt down beside her and brushed his hand across her cheek. Her skin was warm, and bit flushed from being exposed to the sun. Pulling a dirk from his belt, he stabbed himself. The dirk was envenomed with voyria, the same poison that took the life of his beloved. He stabbed at himself again and again, hoping to die faster so that he may meet Juliet again in the next life, or where ever she may have gone.

As the blood trickled from his wounds, he tightened his grip on Juliet's seemingly lifeless hand. He closed his eyes ready to accept his fate. Moments later, Juliet's eyes open slowly, and she closes her hand around those of Romeo's. She sits up, and gently begins to smooth out his matted hair. She notices the puddle of darkened blood on the ground beside her, and she realizes that something is wrong. She rolls Romeo over and sees the gaping wounds in his body. Juliet then picks up the dirk and with a quick thrust, shoves it into her heart, and collapses beside Romeo.

Lord Sarapis, the Logos, whose eyes and ears exist throughout the world, knew of their love. He had intended to stay out of the business of the mortals, but his heart was not made of stone. He summoned the two corpses before her, and brought life back into their bodies. Romeo and Juliet awoke rejuvenated, still holding each other's hand. Lord Sarapis told the two of them how he was moved by their love, and knew that they could not be together on the mortal planes below. Therefore, he asked them to become Guides to the world, so that when future mortals were old enough to embark into the world, they wouldn't be so lost, and would have someone to turn to in a time of need. They wouldn't be mortals, or immortals; just themselves, and have each other for all of eternity. Romeo and Juliet looked at each other, and without a word between them, nodded in unison. Lord Sarapis set them at the Portals, ready to help any lost children in the big world of Sapience.