The Stampeding BonesTold by Zander Du'Mal
"Rose and I had gone out to the plains to search for new Elkrin breeds. Rose had been reading about Elkrins and noted that we were in the area of one of the last known Shaman Elkrins. I doubted that we would see such a beast, I was very wrong..."
"We has been camping outside for a bit less than a week. Rose had been sketching out what she imagined the Shaman Elkrin to look like. At night, she would make a map of the stars so she could find he way back after looking for bio-luminescent plants or minerals in the area. One night, something strange happened."
"Rose ran back to camp after only half an hour. She tripped on so e equipment, which was very unlike her. When I asked what was wrong, she grabbed me by the collar of my shirt and said 'I found him.' ... I was in awe. I sat down next to her and asked her many questions. I set up a fire in the center of camp and we cooked some food while we chatted. After we had eaten, Rose started explaining what the Shaman Elkrin looked like. Here is what she said."
"Rose told me 'His body is adorned with the deepest of purple seas, and the colors of flame spreads throughout that sea. He bears the skull of a fallen Elkrin, along with a tail piece fashioned of bones. Yellow gems peer from behind the skull mask, a set of yellow eyes that cannot be unseen.' and I was both horrified and intrigued."
"I asked her many questions, but one of the ones she could not answer was why the Elkrin was so close to us. She opened her mouth and was about to say something when we heard the call of the Elkrin. We jumped to our feet and when we looked in the direction of the call, we saw him. The stampeding beast adorned with bones and the colors of fire in a purple sea. I ran, but tripped after 10 feet. I was top scared to be careful. I looked at Rose and yelled for her to run, but she stood her ground. The Shaman Elkrin's face was inches from Rose's. She stared into his yellow eyes and said something. She said 'Rivi'Sha' ... His name."
"I stood up and carefully walked over to her and the Elkrin, I asked her what she was doing. She simply smiled and said 'Taming the Shaman.' I was co confused, I asked what she ment. She placed her hand on the bone mask and looked at me. 'I am becoming and Elkrin Rider.'"
"Every sunrise, Rose would try to ride Rivi'Sha. She was able to last a little while, but she was never a savvy horse rider so I doubted she would get much better. However, she continued to improve until she and Rivi'Sha seemed to move as one. I had seen something strange and wonderful, I had seen the creation of a new Elkrin Rider and the bond between her and her Elkrin."

"We packed up and set off with Rivi'Sha on our trek back to a village we had passed days before. However, we could not find you map. Also, the star map Rose had made was no help during the day and we would not risk traveling at night."
"We wandered for two days until we were faced with difficulties. We were finding less signs of people and more wilderness. Rivi'Sha started acting strange, he kept trying to lead us in different directions and searching the earth for plants. Rose convinced me to listen to him, so we started following the Elkrin. We traveled for three days and nights, for we had been traveling in the wrong direction."
"He found plants that suppressed our fatigue and hunger, so we were able to continue traveling until we came across the path towards a small village. Rose mounted Rivi'Sha and sped towards the village, I came to the village several minutes later. When I was there, the villagers both respected and feared us. We were told that the Elkrins and Elkrin rides had dwindled in numbers. Thus two facts were true, the Shaman Elkrin was one of the few still found, and Rose had become the Shaman Elkrin Rider."
{Time spent on the pixel art: around a week}
{all art by me}