Post by KeshmarCurlyHair on May 28, 2016 15:32:52 GMT -5
Yujen's Story: Fort Legacy
“4645 Grakow-Gra Zhigol 1:14 PM. Location: Southwest Euphica.”
“4645 Grakow-Gra Zhigol 1:14 PM. Location: Southwest Euphica.”
An ominous storm cloud, constantly looming overhead narrated the mood in this particular dark, twilight day at sea. This sea was unusually quiet and empty, as the merfolk, as well as most non-anoid sealife long vacated the area in fear of the many curses set upon the ocean's many inhabitants by the enigmatic aqua liches. With the rare exception of the naively smug spiritual being, not one creature dared stir in these waters. And as such, the surrounding seas were frozen in a uniquely tranquil state.
But on this night, one ship could be seen on these calm, deserted waters. On the mid-sized ship that the clouds looked down upon, a small skeleton crew was aboard, taking a trip around the large island, just to drop a friend off...
“I don't see it...” the human male said, looking around at the horizon as he leaned over the deck. He was in his mid-teens and clean-shaven with a pale complexion. His white, messy hair blew in the wind as he held his left hand to his temple, looking around. He held to the collar of his loose, blue button-up shirt, holding the black-and-white stripped bandanna down that he had tied around his neck. Also wearing knee-length brown shorts as if it were summer, he was dressed to combat the humid seas they were on, with the exception of his heavy, ivory-white leather boots. “Is that it?”
The dark green-haired topless female anthran walking up beside him looked over at him, sighing. She had dark skin and a large scar running down her left shoulder. She had a heavier pair of shorts on, though tan-colored and lower-cut, as well as a longer, thigh-high black pair of boots on that reached past the legs of her shorts. Her matching brown and black matte sailor hat was tied on both sides to her large horns to prevent it from blowing away. “That's... the only land around, Yujen.” she said, putting her hand on his shoulder.
“No, I don't mean land. I mean the fortress.” Yujen specified before glancing at her. “Where'd you put Gazra's telecope?”
“I gave it back to him.” she answered sternly as she let go of his shoulder. “Why can't we just sail up and take a look?”
“Because we don't know how deep the water is near the shore.” he answered, turning to her. “Sailing basics aside, the place is cursed. Wouldn't want you guys to wind up getting caught in that mess.”
“Well what about you? You're the one going in there.” she said with a worried tone.
“The tales say that the curse only effects organic beings.” he explained. “My alchemic knowledge would prevent me from being too overcome there. Besides, you just met me yesterday. Why are you so concerned?”
She sighed again, glancing away. “Sorry. You just... you remind me of my brother.” she said. “He sailed along with Rik, and...”
Another anthran approached the two. This one, also a dark green-haired female, had on an eyepatch over her left eye and wore a long, black leather jacket that buttoned once both above and below her breasts, above a bulbous, bare pregnant belly riding boldly outside of the jacket. She also had on dull, olive-green trousers on underneath the jacket, over off-gray pointed leather boots. “Yujen! Elan!” she exclaimed.
“Rikoen!” he responded as she approached.
Rikoen came up to them. “Has my little sister been givin' you a hard time?” she asked him.
“She seems kinda worried...” he said, glancing at Elan.
“He mentioned a curse!” Elan exclaimed.
“She's always been pretty neurotic.” Rikoen explained, folding her arms. “So what's the plan?”
He smiled in amusement before going back to serious mode. “Well, sin-”
“Now hold on a second!” Elan interrupted. “Could you guys just tell me what's happening? From the beginning?”
“Elan, calm down. We're just dropping him off, then heading back to Nekoleon.” Rikoen said.
“It's okay.” he insisted, then turned to Elan. “There's this place called 'The Fortress of Legacy'. It supposedly has treasures in it that a lot of Nerosans want. But it's one of the many places out here that's cursed. It's one of the more nasty curses, so no one that ever attempted to get the treasure has lived.”
“There it is!” Rikoen exclaimed, causing Elan to squeal, jumping into her older sister's arms. Both her sister and Yujen started laughing.
“Meanie!” Elan exclaimed, pushing Rikoen back after recovering from the startling tease.
“Anyway, I'm gonna go there alone. If I make it out alive, I'll walk back to Nerosa.” he said. “And don't worry, I'm prepared.”
“So are you ready?” Rikoen asked.
“Yeah. Got the boat prepared?” he said.
“Sure do.” Rikoen replied, then turned away. She nodded to him, prompting him to follow. Elan tagged along as well as they walked around to the boat.
“You'll like it in Nekoleon, sis!” Elan exclaimed, happily following them. “I can even teach you how to speak Sardi!”
“You sure got over being worried.” Rikoen commented as the group got to the boat.
“Of course.” Elan said. “After hearing Yujen describe the place, I know he's a dead man.”
Rikoen sighed. “Oh god...”
“So this is where I get off.” he said, turning to Elan.
Elan smiled at him. “Thanks for last night.”
Yujen huffed a smile of embarrassment as he stumbled out a chuckle, glancing at Rikoen. “Yeah, I uh-”
“...better get going.” Rikoen said, finishing Yujen's sentence. She nodded at him. “Good luck.”
He climbed aboard the boat. “Thanks.” he said, then sat down before looking up at Elan again. “Try not to give your sister a hard time, okay?”
Elan nodded as Rikoen lowered the boat down.
Yujen sighed, lowering his head. As the boat touched the water, he lifted his head back up, looking around. He reached over, unhooking the rope from his boat. He sighed, reaching over to the paddle. As the boat drifted from the ship, he picked the paddle up, then caressed the water with it, pushing his boat forward.
The boat crept forward on the water as it approached shore. Silently disappointed in what he was seeing, Yujen stared angrily at the landmarks described in the tales. No question, this was where he was looking for. The problem was, it wasn't what he was looking for. The only structure that stood in the middle of the hill was... a mansion.
“What the hell is this?” he complained, looking around. The mansion had a giant fence surrounding the perimeter of its yard. “This place ain't no fortress!”
Still dozens of meters from shore, he suddenly felt the boat run into something. He looked down to the water. He Saw what looked to be a reef below his boat. “The water must be pretty shallow from here...” he thought.
He pulled his paddle up, pointed the blunt end of it down toward the water, then thrust it downward. The paddle punctured the reef as Yujen felt no ground underneath. “Huh. That's new. Never seen a reef floating like this before...”
Deciding to tear through the reef, he edged his way toward the shore. Before long, he came across a section of the reef that he couldn't puncture with the paddle end. he climbed carefully out of the boat, testing the sturdiness of the reef. “This must be where it meets the soil underneath.” he said to himself, reaching down to pick up part of the chipped reef. He examined the browned chunk, instantly recognizing the pattern of a fish head on it. As he walked further toward the shoreline, the pattern looked more and more like an actual fish's head. “Huh.”
He dropped it, then looked forward. He immediately started hearing strange noises coming from the gate to the mansion. He kept walking as he started making the noises out. Moaning. Moaning of some kind. The moans were definitely anoid. Several of them. Possibly dozens. All of them sounding as though they were in pain. “Well if nothing else, the place is fuckin' creepy. That's for sure.”
He looked down as he walked upon closer examination, below the sand looked like there was many fish frozen to the ground in no particular pattern. As if someone dumped a mountain of them on the beach before gluing them all together.
He shrugged, then continued on toward the moans.
Yujen got to the front gate, looking through it as he pulled it open. Inside, around the garden stood many strange structures. Statuesque bodies... or at least they looked like bodies... of anoids, mangled and disfigured. And terribly life-like, as these were where the moans were coming from.
The grotesque statues moved about in their stationary positions, as if struggling to break free from their painful existence.
Suddenly, an intense pain surged through Yujen's whole body. He fell to his knees as his skin felt like it began to contort onto itself. “Holy shi- AAARGH!” he exclaimed.
A sudden reflex caused him to tighten his muscles as his body began to liquefy. He turned watery, still retaining his shape until he was completely translucent. He stood back up as a liquid version of himself. The pain went away immediately after he transmuted himself into water.
He reformed himself into a normal coloration as his water transmutation was still active. Before regaining his composure, he heaved a sigh, or at least mimicked a sigh that he would have heaved if he reformed his lungs.
He looked around again at the things he first recognized as statues as it clicked as to what happened to them. “They're actually real...” he thought out loud. “These were real people!”
He shrugged off the squicky implications of the curse he now recognized, looking on to the mansion. He then continued toward the mansion.
He approached the mansion's front doors. He stopped, putting his hands on the doors before he pushed on them. They slowly creaked open. He walked in.
Looking around, he immediately recognized a faint moaning sound inside after the door closed, cutting off the numerous moans coming from the garden. It sounded male, and distant. Maybe in a room somewhere.
“Ooohhh...”
“Only one in here. I guess that's an improvement.” he thought before starting to examine the physical elements of the room.
“Uuuhhh...”
In the middle of the foyer was a large fountain. About two stories tall, but inactive. There was a liquid in the sink of the fountain. Shiny, almost silvery. Definitely not water. Maybe a liquid metal of some sort? He didn't recognize it.
“Ooohhh...”
He looked around at the walls. Nothing unusual there. Marble-looking, with chain-link decor clear around the top.
“Uuuhhh...”
At this point, not even five minutes into his exploration, that one moan was starting to get to him. “Screw it, time to track him down.” he said, figuratively taking the bull by the horns.
“Ooohhh...”
He followed the noise up the large flight of the main stairway. It sounded like it was coming through the right hallway... he walked toward it. The voice started getting closer. More distinct.
“Uuuhhh...”
As he got close to the voice, he heard another voice. This one's a kid's voice, or possibly female. It was hard to tell. He stopped, trying to listen through the calm roar of the male moan.
“Ooohhh...”
“W-who's there? Is anyone there?” the other voice called out... coming from the direction of the male moan.
“Uuuhhh...”
“Okay, maybe they're just having sex or something.” he speculated, approaching the door to the room he suspected that they were in. “Normally I wouldn't interrupt, but...”
“Ooohhh...”
He opened the door. He immediately noticed someone falling to the floor, and the male moan coming from that person.
“Uuuhhh...”
“Please... don't hurt me...” the person said.
“Ooohhh...”
A very young female human, possibly about thirteen or fourteen years old was on the floor, looking around randomly. The male moan was strangely also coming from her, though not her mouth or face. She short black hair and was wearing a loose-fitting light blue blouse with matching pajama bottoms. She seemed very thin and frail. Her foggy, white eyes suggested that she was blind, or at least with low vision.
“Uuuhhh...”
“I'm not here to hurt you.” Yujen said to her, distracted by the curiosity as to where the moaning voice was coming from. He approached her slowly.
“Ooohhh...”
“I can not see you. Please.” she pleaded in panic.
“Uuuhhh...”
“Here, let me help you up.” he offered, taking her hand.
“Ooohhh...”
“You're a real person.” she said over the moaning voice as he helped her up.
“Uuuhhh...”
“My name is Yujen Kitani.” he introduced. “What is yours?”
“Ooohhh...”
“My name is Telim... mithy Elt-”
“Uuuhhh...”
“What?” he interrupted, unable to make out what her name was over the moaning coming from her body.
“Ooohhh...”
“Telimithy Elthic.” she repeated, putting her hands on his chest to examine him. Another hint that she was blind.
“Uuuhhh...”
“Telimithy?” he asked.
“Ooohhh...”
“Yes.” she confirmed. “Elthic.”
“Uuuhhh...”
“Telimithy Elthic?” he asked further.
“Ooohhh...”
“Yes!” she said enthusiastically. “S-sorry, I can't see you... my eyes...”
“Uuuhhh...”
“What's going on, Telimithy?” he inquired. “Where's that voice coming from?”
“Ooohhh...”
“Voice?” she asked as the male voice continued moaning incessantly. “I only hear yours. And mine.”
“Uuuhhh...”
“You don't hear that?” he said, walking around in the room, trying to confirm that the sound is indeed coming from her body
“Ooohhh...”
She remained silent.
“Uuuhhh...”
“Well then what happened to the people out in the garden?” he wondered, walking over to the unmade bed in the room.
“Ooohhh...”
“What happened to my garden?” she asked, worried.
“Uuuhhh...”
“Out in the front, by the gate. What are those things?” he said, feeling the bed to make sure it was safe to sit on.
“Ooohhh...”
“Oh...” she said. “That's not my garden. I grow food in... my... in my garden...”
“Uuuhhh...”
“Okay...” he said, sitting on the bed.. “So. Telimithy-”
“Ooohhh...”
“A-are you gonna... oh boy...” she said, blushing as she walked over to him.
“Uuuhhh...”
“Is something wrong?” he asked, trying to listen to her over the now very annoying moaning.
“Ooohhh...”
“S-sorry...” she said. “I'm j-just...”
“Uuuhhh...”
“You look young, Telimithy.” he commented as he reached for her hands, holding them gently. “Have you ever been with a male?”
“Ooohhh...”
Her blush suddenly got more intense. “I-I... uh... not... exactly...” fidgeting noticeably.
“Uuuhhh...”
“How did you get here?” he asked, changing the subject.
“Ooohhh...”
“How... did......” she said. “Oh. Well it was years ago. We shipwrecked.”
“Uuuhhh...”
“'We'?” he asked.
“Ooohhh...”
“My family and I were on a ship headed for Razia. A bad storm blew us off-course. After we crashed here, they received a curse. All of them. She ship's crew, my family, the other passengers... but for some reason, I was the only one unaffected.” she said.
“Uuuhhh...”
said, now practically ignoring the moaning male voice coming from her.
“Ooohhh...”
“So did you want to see my garden?” she asked.
“Uuuhhh...”
“Your garden?” he asked in return.
“Ooohhh...”
“Yeah.” she responded.
“Uuuhhh...”
“And it's not the garden in the front lawn?” he asked.
“Ooohhh...”
“No, it's on the... thing. Out back.” she explained, tugging on his hands.
“Uuuhhh...”
He stood up as she backed up. “Yeah, let's see it.”
“Ooohhh...”
She held his hand as they walked out of the room.
“Uuuhhh...”
As they walked up the hall, he turned his attention back to the moaning voice. He looked behind her.
“Ooohhh...”
Her upper back, which had strange definition from what he could see, as it was covered by her blouse, was moving to the sounds on those moans. Perhaps a creature latched onto her without her knowing?
“Uuuhhh...”
It was definitely coming from her back. As they approached the end of the hallway to the door, she looked up in his general direction, smiling.
“Ooohhh...”
He opened the door as she walked in. He looked around. It was a whole greenhouse with live, healthy plants in it. Glowing beads of energy floated around the room, giving it a beautiful, mystical flavor.
“Uuuhhh...”
“Telimithy, it's beautiful...” he said through the continued moans. “How can you maintain it?”
“Ooohhh...”
“It was difficult at first.” she responded, looking up in his general direction. “I can't see it at the same time I'm doing anything.”
“Uuuhhh...”
He found that wording quite peculiar. “She's blind, can she actually see things sometimes?” he thought.
“Ooohhh...”
“So you do see. Sometimes.” he said.
“Uuuhhh...”
“Oh, I can see!” she said, turning around away from him as she started pulling up her shirt.
“OOOHHH!” the moaning voice yelled as its face was revealed. Fused to her right shoulder blade, the hairless face of a human male stared back at Yujen. It was discolored and darkened compared to her own pale skin.
“Holy shit!” he exclaimed, jumping back, falling on the ground.
“UUUHHH!”
“Yujen, what's wrong?” she whimpered, seeing him for the first time as he sat startled on the floor.
“OOOHHH!”
“Y-you can see me? With that... face?” he asked.
“UUUHHH!”
“Are you okay, Yujen? Did something scare you?” she asked, oblivious about her... physical configuration.
“OOOHHH!”
He started getting back up. “Sorry, no. I just... thought I saw something.” he said, trying not to frighten her.
“UUUHHH!”
She put her shirt back down, turning back around to him. “Sorry, I must not know how to act around people any more...” she said, walking over to him. She swung her arms around him, hugging him “I'm just... I'm so happy to see another person...”
“Ooohhh...”
He put his right hand on the back of her head, and his left on the top of her back, trying not to poke her 'other' eyes. “It's okay, Telimithy...” he said, trying to comfort her.
“Uuuhhh...”
As they broke the hug, Yujen looked down at her literally blank stare.
“Ooohhh...”
“Was that your bedroom I found you in...?” he asked.
“Uuuhhh...”
“Y-yes...” she answered.
“Ooohhh...”
“Want me to take you back there?” he asked.
“Uuuhhh...”
“Yujen... I...” she said, then backed away. She then felt around for his hand, grasping it. She started pulling him out of the greenhouse, leading him back down the hall.
“Ooohhh...”
She pulled him back in her room. As they entered, he shut the door behind them.
“Uuuhhh...”
He pulled her by the shoulder close to him as he leaned over, kissing her on the lips.
“Ooohhh...”
“She doesn't even know she's cursed either...” he thought as she tried returning the kiss. He put his hands on both of her shoulders. “If I can use my alchemy to cure her...” He stopped himself, realizing that he can't use his healing alchemy on anything that isn't in his possession, or on any sapient being that has not given consent.
“Uuuhhh...”
As her comfort zone started engulfing the kiss, the two started kissing each other more passionately. Her hands moved up to his arms, then nervously away from him as she wasn't sure what to do.
“Ooohhh...”
He reached his left hand down to her right breast, covering it as his other hand moved down the plain side of her back.
“Uuuhhh...”
His right hand rested on the small of her back as he pulled her closer with it.
“Ooohhh...”
He broke this kiss, not wanting to go on before he got the curse out of her.
“Uuuhhh...”
“Yujen...?” she wondered, confused as to why he stopped.
“Ooohhh...”
“Tel, would... would you be ready for-”
“Uuuhhh...”
“Yes.” she interrupted softly between moans of her back face. “Take me, I'm yours...”
“Ooohhh...”
He smiled as he let go of her. That consent might not have been for his alchemic healing, but to the alchemy itself, it counted. She looked on, despite not being able to see him as he put his hands on her arms. After his alchemic powers charged, his body started liquefying again. As his hands liquefied, it spread to her own body as it started the same process.
“Uuh-”
As her whole body turned to water, a skull remained, which dropped to the floor through her now liquid body. The face located in her back seemed to have had its skull intact.
The moaning stopped.
As he reformed himself, the liquid that was once her floated over to her bed. As he started reforming her, what emerged was merely a silvery cloud of gas. Her solid body did not remerge.
“What the hell?” he complained. He knew that he didn't botch the power.
The visible gas cloud dissipated as a loud roar echoed throughout the mansion.
He readied himself, looking around. He heard the sound of the metal from the chain-linked decor rattling. He looked up just before he was struck by one.
He tumbled out of the bedroom, then stood up before quickly dodging more chains attempting to strike him.
“Dammit, what's happening now?” he asked to no one in particular as he ran back down the hall.
As he ran, chains started whipping down upon him. Barely dodging them, he got out to the foyer only to find that the chains from the other parts of the mansion had already started converging there.
Jumping down to the ground floor, not bothering to use the chain-covered main staircase, he landed, immediately taking off for the front doors. In reaction to the loud thump of him landing, chains started bursting out of the floor.
As he ran up to the door, chains started covering it. “Oh come on!” he complained before turning around.
The chains, now almost completely merged into a large mass, vaguely anoid, approached Yujen. Suddenly, several chains shot out at him, impaling him before he liquefied himself as a reaction.
He then realized. “It's you...” he thought. He grabbed one of the chains, which began to liquefy, as if it had already consented to the reception of his alchemy.
About as quick as he realized it, he immediately spread the power through the entire chain system, almost instantaneously transmuting all of the chains into water.
He reformed, now out of the chains' grasp. He dropped to his kneed, heaving a sigh of relief.
After a moment, he looked up. The liquid-formed chains were converging again - this time, sinking themselves into the silvery fountain water.
He stood up as he looked on as it all sank into the fountain.
Another moment passed before a figure started rising up to of the silvery water. The silvery mass was shaped in the form of Telimithy.
“What's going on, Telimithy?” he asked without hesitation.
“I am sorry, Yujen.” she said, remaining still. It seemed like she couldn't step out of the fountain. “After I lost my anoid form, my memories of you briefly faded. I apologize for attacking you like that.”
“Are you even human? Or any type of anoid, for that matter?” he wondered.
“I am not.” she answered. “At least, not yet. I was once in what you call the 'celestial realm', functioning as decoration for Navidek.”
“Navidek? The god?” he said.
“That is correct.” she replied. “I was cast out when Lord Navidek had no use for me any more. I then stumbled upon this place. The liches that resided in it were more than happy to take me in.”
“If this is true, then why didn't you tell me all this from the beginning?” he asked.
“My normal memories could not come out in the form I took...” she explained. “After the liches left this home, they cursed it so no one would be able to invade. I became lonely. One day, a ship crashed nearby. The people aboard were stricken with the curse. One individual died before the crash though, so he was unaffected. I took his remains and fabricated a body for myself. An anoid body.”
“That moaning face on your back. That was him, wasn't it?” he said.
“Yes.” she answered. “While I revived his consciousness somewhat, it suppressed my own. I was able to tap into his all this time so I could interact with the world like a real anoid. I was unable to leave this place though, as without the curse, I couldn't maintain an anoid form...”
“So that's why you couldn't leave...” he said. “You want to be human that badly?”
She nodded.
“Come with me then.” he offered. “I might not be able to give you an anoid body myself, but we can both find one together.”
“I won't be able to communicate with you without any interface liquid.” she mentioned.
“Don't worry. You'll be safe.” he said, then offered his hand.
She smiled, then began to sink back into the liquid. After her form completely disappeared, the solid form on the chains remerged from it. The chains attempted to form an anoid-shape as best they could.
Yujen turned around, opening the front door for them. The many moans of the cursed crew echoed into the mansion before he shut it again. “Yeeeah... let's go out the back.” he said as he followed the chains back into the mansion.
