Fated (Chapter Thirty-Three)
Saturday, September 12th, 2015 05:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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mindcrackloveChapter list: http://tanadin.dreamwidth.org/382.html
Map of the continent: http://tanadin.deviantart.com/art/F
Character status spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet
Chapter Thirty-Three
Kingdom of Illian, Minecraftia. October 4, year 573. Time instance 483Z.
“A hybrid!” Katrin exclaimed. “You’re part pigman, aren’t you?”
Xullos blinked at her, raising his free hand to run his fingers gently over his tusks. “I…would assume so.” He grinned slightly. “What else has tusks and squeals when frightened?”
“You squeal?” Zel raised an eyebrow.
“Sometimes I do.” He shuffled his feet. “Um. You guys aren’t exactly ordinary either.” He waved at Baltbee and then Marcus. “A sheepman and a va-”
Marcus was upon him before he finished the word, covering his mouth. “Shut up.” He hissed, quiet enough so the others couldn’t hear. “I don’t know how you figured that out, but you shut up.”
Xullos’s eyes widened in terror and he shook slightly. Zel growled and moved between them, yanking Marcus away from him.
“Can you not be an asshole to everyone?” He hissed. “Leave the kid alone.”
Marcus hissed at him back, making Zel blink. Had Marcus’ teeth been… different? He hadn’t gotten a good look. He shook it off, filing it away for later. He turned back to Xullos, fumbling for something in his pocket. He produced the yellow stone and motioned for Xullos to take it. It lit up the moment it touched the hybrid’s skin.
“Great. Welcome to the club.” Marcus rolled his eyes and moved back into the group.”
“What? I don’t…”
“We’re part of a prophecy.” Katrin said gently. “Even you. We have to save the world from the Hostiles, those monsters that have been destroying it.”
Xullos’s eyes widened. “You mean like that…that…that horrid orange fire thing that attacked about a week ago?”
“Probably. We haven’t actually seen any of them.” Baltbee confessed.
“What do you say? Want to help us?” Carl smiled slightly at him.
Xullos hesitated before steeling himself and nodding, a determined expression spreading across his face. “Yes. I…I lost a lot in that fight.” He shivered. “I don’t want anyone else getting hurt…”
Aldobiva shuddered. “Or worse.” She whispered darkly.
More would be lost.
Xullos nodded. “Okay.” He fumbled around in his pocket with his right hand- the one not holding the torch- and pulled out some bizarre glasses. The right lens was red while the left was blue, for no apparent reason other than design. He put them on and nodded, satisfied. “Let’s go.”
Baltbee blinked. “You don’t have anyone to-”
“No.” Xullos said, a little too quickly. “Let’s just…get going. I want to leave this place as soon as possible. I was going to get out of here anyway.”
Zel nodded, feeling bad for the guy as they set out again.
~~~
It was just after dawn when Adrian’s nightmares broke as his eyes snapped open. He shrieked and sat up, breathing heavily. His head pounded and his vision swam momentarily before everything came into focus.
He looked over to the other boat and noticed his friends staring at him, and Niel’s slightly burned-
Niel!
The memories of the previous day hit him like an avalanche and his head spun again. He couldn’t meet Niel’s eyes, feeling himself begin to shake and tears begin to form.
I’m a monster. I almost killed him. I almost killed Niel.
“Adrian?”
“I’m sorry.” Adrian gasped, covering his face with his hands. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so, so sorry, I can’t…I can’t…” He shook violently from the sheer horror of what he had done, what he had almost done…
“Adrian, it’s okay, you didn’t mean to!” Niel’s voice cracked a little- clearly he was upset too.
“No, it’s not okay! It’s not okay, Niel, can’t you see I almost killed you? I almost killed you and Nessy, I would have killed all of you! I’m a monster, a monster…a monster!”
Adrian continued to sob, even as Niel jumped boats and hugged him. Adrian tried to shake him off but the small ninja was insistent. “You’re not a monster.” He whispered. “You’re my friend.”
“I don’t deserve you guys.” Adrian whispered. “Please get away from me. I…I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You won’t.” Nia said confidently. “We’ll knock you out again if you start to change. Okay?”
Adrian didn’t respond, instead just curling into a ball. Niel stayed with him, trying to comfort his sobbing and guilty friend.
I almost killed them. I almost killed Niel and Nessy.
I’m a monster. I shouldn’t be near them.
I don’t deserve their friendship.
I can’t risk their lives.
“I have to leave.” He whispered. “I can’t risk you guys. I can’t risk turning and killing anyone.”
“No!” Nia growled. “You’re not going anywhere! We’ll be fine, alright? We’ll just keep an eye on you.”
“It’s not safe!”
“And this adventure is?” Nessy demanded. “We need you, Adrian. You’re our friend and you’re part of the prophecy. We won’t let something like a crazy monster form stop us.”
Uncontrollable monstrous rage.
Adrian shook his head but fell silent, letting Niel continue to hug and comfort him.
He felt horrible and torn up inside, hating himself and hating what he had done.
~~~
“Why are we going north?” Valkan demanded. “Shouldn’t we go through Sunspire right to the meeting spot?”
Samuel shot him a poisonous glare. “If you’d like to try your luck with a bunch of territorial Sunspines, feel free. We’re taking the safe route.”
“Why not go south, then?”
“If you want to go through Kalt’on, have fun.” Tarsen grumbled. “Those guys are even worse than the Sunspines.”
“I wish we had Shred with us. Then we could go through, right?” Tranpar glanced up at Samuel.
“Yes.” Samuel replied simply, continuing to follow the map. “There’s also a chance we’ll meet up with the Valdrar group if we go this way, the timing is right, and they take the smart route.”
Tarsen grinned. “That’s great! I can’t wait to meet back up with Vorna and Aldobiva and tell them about that tree monster that you fought off. That was awesome, by the way.”
“Tree monster?” Onai asked, making Tarsen jump. He had completely forgotten that he was there.
Runs in the family.
“Some pissy tree tried to kill us.” Valkan muttered. “It sucked ass.”
“That sounds uncomfortable.”
“I got shards of wood in my back.” Trymdas said, voice quiet.
“Very uncomfortable.” Onai amended.
Tim glanced at them, looking slightly scared through the cracks in his box. He wasn’t sure how he felt about battling giant tree monsters. He was pretty sure his box wouldn’t protect him from that. He scrambled forward and took Tarsen’s hand again, feeling better when he did so.
Tarsen grinned back at him. “You okay, little guy?”
“Yeh.” Tim muttered quietly. “Tree monsters are scary.”
Axid frowned, glancing at a tree they were passing suspiciously.
“Hopefully we won’t run into that tree again.” Tarsen muttered. “Samuel, why isn’t there a convenient river going the way we need to go?”
“Because altitudes won’t allow it.” Samuel grumbled. “I wish they would, though. It’s a long walk around Sunspire.”
Onai stopped walking. “Wait.”
The group paused, confused. “What?” Valkan demanded.
“Shh. The shadows are speaking.” Onai closed his eyes to listen momentarily before opening them again. “They say to get a smaller box, Tim.”
Tim whined softly.
“That one will break. It’s too big to haul around anyway.” Tarsen reasoned. “We can make you a new, smaller one.”
“Promise?”
“Promise. Next time we stop, I’ll make you one.”
Tim whimpered and nodded. “Keeping it until then.”
“Also…” Onai hesitated. “The shadows say something else.”
“What?” Samuel tilted his head.
Onai pointed at Valkan. “You’re an asshole. I don’t know how you live with yourself.” He hesitated. “I hope you die.”
Everyone stared at him, Valkan’s mouth slightly agape.
“We can continue now.” Onai informed them, falling silent.
Startled and slightly disturbed, Samuel looked back at the map and continued on.
Axid looked at Onai oddly as they walked. [What was that all about? What has Valkan done?]
Onai shuddered and signed back. [Horrible things. Horrible, horrible things.]
Axid paused. [Do I want to know?]
Onai made a negative gesture with his hands and shuddered again. Axid missed a step as a shadow seemed to creep out and pat his shoulder, but when she blinked, it was gone and she wasn’t entirely convinced that she had seen it properly.
She really wasn’t sure how she felt about the whole ‘shadow elementalist’ thing, but she knew that Onai wasn’t a bad person.
At least, he didn’t seem like one, unlike Valkan…
Darkness is easily confused with evil.
-~-
Vechs shuddered, trying to ignore the laughter the he knew wasn’t real, couldn’t be real, and instead focused on the cracked orb in his grip. He flipped obsessively through the Hostiles, oftentimes pausing on Kyilld or Specterveil. As he watched Specterveil and Kyilld plotting, he felt something gently drag claws along his back and he screamed, dropping the orb and rolling forward.
When he turned around, however, there was nothing there. Nothing except the pounding of his own heard and the laughter of his hallucinations. He shook and curled up tighter, reaching for the orb once more. He shoved it into his toolbelt, however, and shifted into monstrous form.
Vechs hid his head under his wings, trying to ignore the sounds of clawed footsteps on the stone floor and the sounds of wings in the air. He felt something land on his shoulder and he swatted at it, but when he made contact with it he realized it was real. He shrieked and clawed it, but when it hit the floor, he paused to look at it.
He whimpered when he realized that it had just been a bat, curiously landing on his shoulder. He picked up the little creature and quickly created a tiny vial of healing potion, pouring it over the bat’s wounds. He watched anxiously as its wounds healed. The little bat squeaked at him and he let it go.
“Sorry.” He whispered as it flew away in the darkness. He curled up tighter, feeling bad, but at least it had momentarily distracted him from the horrors of his mind. He sighed, breathing out flames, and reflected that he regretted ever creating the orbs that became the Hostiles.
He got to his feet after a few minutes, leaving the map in order to go find someone to talk to. He needed someone to stave off the waking nightmares.
He found his feet carrying him to Blame’s room and he knocked before heading in. Blame looked up at him from where he was watching Shred.
“You look awful.”
“Thanks.” Vechs muttered, sitting beside him. “I sure needed you to tell me that.”
“Still hallucinating?”
“I’m not hallucinating!” Vechs insisted.
Blame shot him a look that was equivalent to a raised eyebrow.
“I’m not.” Vechs mumbled. “Not right now…”
Blame sighed. “Your claws have blood on them. What happened?”
Vechs glanced at his hand. “I swatted at a bat.” He mumbled. “I healed it.”
“You are seriously not okay.”
“I’m fine!” Vechs snarled. “Why does everyone keep saying I’m not fine?”
“Because you’re fucking hallucinating and really, really paranoid! This isn’t good for you, Vechs!”
Vechs shuddered and hugged himself, wings almost like blankets. “I wish I’d never made the Hostiles.” He whispered.
Blame sighed, glancing at the red sword on his right side, the one he had taken from Iirkolav.
“Sometimes I do too.”
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Date: Saturday, September 12th, 2015 10:50 pm (UTC)/#/ /#/ /#/ /#/ /#/ /#/ /#/ /#/ /#/ /#/ /#/ /#/ /#/ /#/ /#/ /#/ /#/
no subject
Date: Saturday, September 12th, 2015 10:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Monday, September 14th, 2015 12:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Saturday, September 12th, 2015 11:00 pm (UTC)I KNEW IT
Poor Adrian.
And Niel. :c
Yay for Onai~
-Random Anon
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Date: Saturday, September 12th, 2015 11:22 pm (UTC)Tarsen grinned back at him. “You okay, little guy?”
THIS GIVES ME LIFE
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Date: Sunday, September 13th, 2015 06:14 am (UTC)-the lurkiest lurker
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Date: Monday, September 14th, 2015 05:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Saturday, September 12th, 2015 11:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Sunday, September 13th, 2015 12:33 am (UTC)- Sol (if it no log in)
P.S. Its fucmking hard ti trype with a 3 year old bouncing around you
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Date: Sunday, September 13th, 2015 06:13 am (UTC)Valkan has done terrible things. We are soooooo surprised. I really want to know more. And I love Tarsen now. He's pretty darn awesome.
And again, poor Vechs! He's got some mental issues and refuses to believe it. :( I wish he would let people help him.
(::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::)
-the lurkiest lurker
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Date: Sunday, September 13th, 2015 04:44 pm (UTC)G.C. (::)(::)(::)(::)(::)(::)
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Date: Monday, September 14th, 2015 05:50 pm (UTC)