The Oldest Game: Ledah versus The Guardians

Day 139, 2009

Like so many other days in the realm, it was a calm, rather uneventful day. Zleiphneir meditated upon the wall, the silence only broken by bits of conversation betwixt him and Tree. Apparently, Tree said something funny, because Zleiph laughed; his laughter was joined by that of the puppet, which in turn, caused Zleiph to frown a most displeased kind of frown. “Only ONE Guardian?” Ledah cackled, “THE Guardian?” The narrow look upon Zleiph’s face was enough to silence the puppet, but only for a moment, and in that moment, ShadowSeeker passed by, observant as always. “Red oil? You’re going to paint yourself with that and pretend it’s blood?” Shadow asked curiously. “Mebbe…” a bit of a twisted grin spread across the puppet’s face. “nah… it’s to paint the Gazebo. The Gazebo of Chaos!” Zleiph shook his head and spouted off mockingly “if you can get color to stain this world, I’ll be amazed” With that said, Ledah promptly attempted to cover Tree with his oily red mess, but the color faded away almost instantly. Zleiph shook his head and sighed “Its just doesn’t stick” Ledah seemed confused “no, no.. I’m sure it’s there” He looked closely at Tree, but Zleiph retorted quickly “are you saying I’m color blind?” “Well… you’re an antelope… so Yes!” Ledah seemed quite pleased with his response, but Zleiph seemed unamused. He tilted his head at Ledah “I challenge you to a battle of the Oldest Game…” This confused, yet interested the puppet “The what?” “It is a battle of words and imagination…” Zleiph patiently explained the concept of the Oldest Game, a test of wits that Driftwood had brought with him to the realm, to the puppet while Artelan watched quietly.

A grin spread across Ledah’s face “I am Ledah, totally awesome and invincible!” Artelan quickly replied “I am death, inevitable to all… “ “ I am… a life support Machine!” “I am a power failure” Ledah looked disappointed for a moment, but lit up as he spoke again “I am a back up generator!” he said and then promptly began to make mechanical whirring and sputtering noises. “I am a malfunction” Zleiph laughed and relaxed against the wall, quite amused. “I am a highly trained coincidentally appearing expert on repairing things!” “I am the human error, always there waiting to strike” Ledah frowned. “I am owned” Artelan smiled. “I am next time, as you will try again another time.”

Zleiph seemed rather pleased “That was fun to watch, can I try you Ledah?” The puppet thought for a moment “Hmm… okay” “I am the preying mantis, hidden by environment, swift and striking” “I am human development, crushing your forests.” Zleiph’s expression turned blank as he tried to think of a counter for Ledah’s answer. Ledah grinned victoriously. Zleiph shrugged it off and leaned back against the wall “That was over rather quickly.” Seemingly very pleased with himself, the puppet wished to continue this “game” and turned to Artelan once again.